By Kristin
The New York Times reports that New York will now include standardized tests in art, gym, foreign languages, kindergarten and first grade, and English Language Learning.
I suppose we all saw this coming. It's an unfortunate response to states being pushed to grade every teacher and the inequity of only some teachers teaching tested subjects. But a standardized test for art or gym? Really? A standardized test for kindergarteners? Really?
The single biggest problem with the direction testing is going is that instead of assessments being used to support student growth, which is how I use them, students are being asked to spend inordinate amounts of time supporting the measurement of their teachers. It's not about the kids, and it's not ethical.
To ask a kindergartener to spend even an hour taking a test the sole purpose of which is to provide evidence of his teacher's effectiveness is not acceptable. Skilled teachers are gathering evidence constantly to determine whether their students are moving. Instead of testing kids to measure teachers, time and energy should be invested in designing ways to use what great teachers are already doing. If a teacher has no evidence her students have made progress, steps should be taken to remedy that, but to ask students to sit big assessments in every subject just so someone can slap a grade on a teacher is benefiting Human Resources more than students. And students know it. They are sick of sitting tests so that their teachers and schools can be measured. They would rather be learning. Those of us who think education is about students need to insist that this be done better.
As if a standardized test in gym isn't ludicrous enough, New York is considering creating an assessment for English students that requires "students to complete a long-form research paper, and ask them to repeat the task in the spring to gauge how much students … learned." Are you kidding me? First, wouldn't that fit better in history, science or social studies? Second, whoever came up with this idea has clearly never pushed, dragged, and cheered teenagers through a big research project or he would never consider it. Third, I'm sorry, but writing a big research paper is about the most rare thing I do in my adult life. People who don't teach see it as some 1975 pinnacle of educational accomplishment, but it's really an inappropriate task for anyone younger than eleventh grade. It's far more important students can write a decent letter.
Such a pointless and inappropriate assessment would take 8-12 weeks out of the year and be useful only to Human Resources. Designing assessments is difficult, and teachers do it carefully and appropriately. As Tom revealed, Washington State recycled a writing prompt used years before. If the state can't come up with new writing prompts every year, how probable is it that there will be an engaging and meaningful research project rolled out every year? It will not happen. It will be mind-numbing and pointless, and while great teachers will work hard to make it engaging, they are being crippled by the state's inability to allow great teachers to do their job.
There are efficient, effective ways to use student data to measure a teacher's impact. A standardized test in gym, art, or kindergarten, or imposing lengthy and disconnected research projects on an English classroom is ineffective and meaningless. As well, these types of assessments use students as tools to measure teachers instead of recognizing that great teachers consider themselves tools to serve students.
Your line right here is powerful, “Students are being asked to spend inordinate amounts of time supporting the measurement of their teachers. It’s not about the kids, and it’s not ethical.” Thanks for sharing that New York Times article and your reflection on it–it’s an important perspective to think about when considering teacher evaluation and standardized testing.
Well, obviously the businesses who write the tests are selling a product, but beyond that I feel like there’s a whole machine employed on the premise we need an army to measure teachers. We need an army fighting poverty and ignorance, and one that does so by teaching.
Instead, we have capable teachers pulled from classrooms to design assessments that are obsolete by the time they hit the desk, and that are used for the wrong purpose.
If I were a lazy teacher, I would simply give more tests and assign more homework. It’s far easier to have a kid sit and fill in bubbles, and read something and fill in blanks, than it is to actually engage with them and teach.
Not only is someone profiting off students and the educational landscape, but they’re doing it in the most lazy way possible. Need to determine who your best teachers are? Just spend time in their rooms! Need to find the best schools? Talk to parents, students, and walk the halls! This long-distance harvesting of numbers is the equivalent of spending September to June handing out mimeographed worksheets. It’s an awfully old-fashioned and hollow way to see what’s going on.
My question: who is making money off of this?
There has to be someone, and it is certainly not students or teachers, who will profit.
The ELL assessment you describe just makes me angry.