My READ411 professor, Doctor Weiner, sent us this article about a week ago. At first too busy to read the articles, I'm glad I saved the email to read over what he sent us. Every teacher worries about our students' test scores. We worry that if they don't do well, they may be placed in a remedial course the next year or perhaps, not understanding a concept on the SAT will keep them out of the college they want to go to. Now, we have the additional concern about our careers. This article from the New York Times describes how misleading test scores can be and how Hard Working Teachers can be Sabatoged When Student Test Scores Slip.
By comparing the percentages from the previous school year, when students had a passing rate of 97% and this year when students had a passing rate of 89%, the "teacher score" suffered. These teachers, as is pointed out in the article, have a long list of credentials and are trying to give students tools of learning beyond how to take an exam. They work to make their classrooms relevant and teach skills that the state does not require, but will be useful later on. It's frightening to see that 20+% of a teacher's evaluate is based on the scores of their students.
As an Englsh teacher, I feel that I have an extra concern with the standardized tests because English is viewed as being potentionally subjective in grading. Even if a student completes the standardized test formula structure of a paragraph/paper, it's possible that a grader that doesn't like the student's word choice or examples could give my student a lower score on the exam. I do not want to be a teacher that spends 6 out of 10 months doing test prep, as there are many teachers who do this and I have been in classes where a teacher mainly focuses on test prep. I feel that there are more valuable lessons to teach and skills for students to master than how to answer a standardized test, but reading all of these articles makes me nervous for how to accomplish that while trying to ensure that my students will do well on their exams.
Lizz, this is definitely an issue that has plagued me, as well. I think it is a negative for all content areas, though I agree that the subjectivity of writing styles has to be weighed. My classes in college are a perfect example of that. Every semester, I have to figure out what certain professors like, which may be vastly different from what others do. How can a student possibly tell what a faceless grader would want, even after instruction?
ReplyDeleteAnd teaching to the test should not at all be a factor, in an ideal world. Do you remember what professor Enix, in that class we shared, said? She told us that students in other countries who simply learn their curriculum, not how to pass tests, do better on these selfsame tests than American students who spend most of their class time prepping do. It's horrifying to think a good teacher's job may be in jeopardy just because they're trying to do more for their students than teaching them to fill out scantrons properly.
Lizz, I read this article when he sent it to us, and I was annoyed and upset as well. It does seem so unfair, and I recall that one reader commented on how the numbers used to calculate those teacher scores don't even add up. (Help us out here, math majors!)
ReplyDeleteSarin's comment is worth researching some more. Students who are involved in creative processes and critical thinking will perform better on any test, simply because they have developed the skills necessary to solve problems. We will all feel somewhat inhibited by curriculum standards and testable information. I think the best we can do is to be ourselves, be open with our students about what they need to learn, and make sure we can seriously align our goals, plans and assessments. In between, be on the lookout for authentic learning opportunities to present themselves, and run with them.