I don’t do tests. Tests only show what the learner does in a testing situation. I want evidence of what the learner can think about and do, and that means that DATA IS IMPORTANT, but not all data is created equal and much of test data is useless. I want to see what the learner does in non-testing situations or at least a simulation of a real situation. That mean learners should be engaged in all sorts of performances with the real tasks of reading (orally and silently), discussing readings, writing, writing about readings, building artifacts related to text with multimedia, acting with objects in the environment, and acting with others in real time. The teacher needs to observe these performances and constructions in real time using rubrics, asking questions, and giving feedback.
I'm getting ready to mount an anti-testing tirade. Maybe it will need to become a movement. I need to rant a bit about the controls that politicians are trying to put in place: Get your filthy politician hands off our schools. The results of your standardized tests don’t show what the students are doing or what they can do. Get more good teaching and time to teach into the schools. Get professional, knowledgeable teachers into the schools. Get smart teachers into the schools. Get teachers who know the differences among the short, long and other vowels into the elementary school; we don’t need automatons who follow a script about vowels without regarding the children, their current knowledge, and what they can do. Children don’t need lengthy streams of facts and trivia about vowels; then need application of specific knowledge of a particular vowel or two to decode a word and then focus on meaning. Get teachers who can teach in a variety of modes for a variety of learner needs. Get the political "one size fits all" out of the schools and allow us to differentiate, basing advancement on demonstration of real reading (both oral and silent), the ability to discuss that reading coherently, and writing, not multiple-choice idiocy.
We want all of our students competent with basic skills. But what are the basics? Martin Luther provided the Germans with the Bible in their native tongue and the commandment that they read it for themselves. King James provided similar inculcations. For me, reading, understanding, and discussing various text related to age-appropriate themes is the mandatory basic skill for success in schools, and writing about them is next; third is being able to do things. Our basic skills should include using information technology critically and participating in the conversations about our society and political system. Passing a multiple-choice test on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights does not constitute an acceptable level of understanding of the government of the U. S. Thinking about people and processes of our society critically and synthesizing ideas into a new whole for yourself and others to solve some problem, which is communicated orally, in writing , or on video (youtube is probably mandatory), is the ultimate basic skill. But we don't get at these basic skills with multiple-choice, machine-graded tests – no matter what level is specified by an external accountability system.
Teachers do need to keep data on their students’ performances. They need to show performances early in their contacts with their students and produce data showing progress. These data should examine where students were at the prior assessment point and the changes over time for various groups of learners. It should provide an answer to the following question: Which learners are demonstrating which types of performance over time towards the goals of the school?
If the state wants external measures and data, then the state should hire evaluators who do this testing and perform analyses. States might have to include standardized tests, but the teachers should not be allowed to administer any standardized tests, and the standardized tests should NEVER be the sole evaluative criterion.
Good Teaching Initiative Richard Speaker Blog
GTIrbs.blogspot.com
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