...however!
There's been a WHOLE LOTTA DEBATE going on over at the Middle-L Listserv based in IL (but followed by hundreds of teachers throughout the country). Read through the Archives for a rundown, then join and be entertained (aka: have your thoughts provoked!). I've been a member of the listserv for years, but only recently has there been so much voicing of opinions - namely those regarding state high-stakes testing.
Here in Texas, we give standardized tests in every grade from 3rd grade through 8th grade, and then (our NEW THING) 9-12th graders take End of Course exams for the core subjects (Algebra I-II, Geometry, English I-IV, Biology, etc.). Personally, I think we're testing them to death. When a 3rd grader comes to school with anxiety over such a test, there is a problem.
Not SO long ago, when I was a public school student in Illinois, I remember my forty-some classmates and I taking the Iowa State Assessment Tests (ISAT) for reading and math cross-legged on the gym floor with my number two pencil and bubble sheet resting atop a textbook I was using for a lapdesk. There was never a big deal made about it. You weren't going to fail a grade or class or LIFE if you did poorly on it. I don't even remember a teacher mentioning it before or after. My teachers didn't earn extra money if we did well, and they weren't considered bad teachers if we did poorly. I wasn't any better or any worse prepared for college because of these tests. There was no anxiety associated with it. And to me, that's the way it should be.
Data is valuable, but a data gathered from a standardized test should not be the ONLY for determining whether or not students are learning and teachers are teaching well. An interesting article today on The Answer Sheet compiles results from two surveys given to teachers about teaching issues. Turns out, most of the teachers who took one of these surveys agrees with me.
Education reform is always spouted as part of any candidates political agenda. Seems to me that unless a politician has been a teacher, they shouldn't be setting agendas or policy. Those of us who doing the "dirty work" should get some say in how things are done. But we don't. Let's work toward changing that, shall we?
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