Assess Skills That Support LIfe Long Learning

I patiently await the day that sees the end of standardized testing as we know it in Michigan.  I truly believe that there will come a time when Americans look back with pity on the years during which students were subjected to sitting still, silent, and serious while filling in circles and squinting at the clock.  No Child Left Behind will be the culminating poster-policy for the worst misuse of standardized testing, and the failure to which all other periods of the standardized test are measured, IMO.

First of all, I think that the very basics of intelligence should be tested:  problem solving skills, reading for comprehension, writing to express ideas.  I believe that if we measured these areas, and measured them well, we could maintain the view of the “whole child.”  In Michigan, our standardized tests address these areas for the most part.  But what they fail to do is connect the assessment of learning with learning itself.  In many cases the tests seem to be for testing sake alone.

Secondly, regardless of what we test, I believe that if we are going to place SO much emphasis on testing the scores should be valid and applied to the students’ grades.  If scores were being applied to their records, the hours of testing a typical student accumulates between third and eighth grades might actually make more sense.  As it stands now, not only do these scores not address the areas that I feel form the foundation for life-long learning, but they do not affect the student’s records, rendering them almost a useless waste of time from the student’s perspective.  After the student frets, sits, reads, bubble-fills, STOPS, and then waits for the scores come weeks later, the scores arrive in a report that seems mostly irrelevant to the child’s success in school because it is not connected to his grades.  They are extrapolated over to teacher performance, connected to school funding, perhaps used to drive curriculum, but do not directly come back to connect with the student.

The assessment structure in Finland is quite different.  They still have lots of testing, but the tests are designed by the teachers and determine the students’ grades.  Their scores affect their eligibility for further education.  The tests impact the students.  The students write for hours, analyzing and explaining (both important life skills and based in reading, thinking, and writing), and are watched closely for cheating.  A stressful situation, perhaps, but one which is successful at assessing the students’ learning while motivating them to learn (Ripley, 2011). 

America is struggling to find a way to demonstrate what children know and hold teachers accountable.  Finland is a top-performing nation in the area of education, but testing is not the only focus in their efforts to establish and maintain a high-quality education system.  They also invest in training teachers and setting a high standard for the work force (Ripley, 2011).  A KEY component to the success of students!

References

 

Ripley, A. (2011).  Testing around the world.  NBC News Education Nation.  Retrieved on Saturday, October 13, 2012 from http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=344AE6BA-FB34-  11E0-B00E000C296BA163