Middletown Schools Association Presents De-stress The Test Monday
5 comments:
Anonymous
said...
If tests in fact measure the degree of accomplishment of the assigned mission (to teach the curriculum), tests are essential and "teaching to the test" is another way of saying "doing the job."
Opposition to "testing" as such is absurd. The people who established and pay for the public school system have a right to know how well each grade, school, and district is doing.
If there is a problem with a test or a whole testing regime, in that it does not accurately measure how successfully pupils have learned their curricular objectives, criticism should be so framed and articulated.
Generalized "test-bashing" and especially criticism of "teaching to the test" is the language of people who want access to ever-increasing amounts of public funds without corresponding accountability.
Nice deal if you can swing it politically by hijacking people's concern for children and for education.
First off, it's a shame that such a well-written comment must be published anonymously. Is there something you're ashamed of?
You lead with a syllogism, that, if false, negates your whole objection.
"If tests in fact measure the degree of accomplishment..."
Of course, many have found that tests do not accurately measure educational accomplishment.
BTW, generalized bashing of "teach to the test" bashers shows a complete lack of respect for people who deeply understand that formulating curriculum to match a standardized test makes a farce of teaching a class of students so diverse that a standardized test could never hope to measure them accurately.
Finally, your comment is posted on a notice talking about stress release, and you use it to hop on your hobby horse to criticize "people who want access to ever-increasing amounts of public funds."
There's a meaningful debate to be had there, of course, by god, education in CT has been underfunded in Connecticut for years.
All tests, including the standardized tests, simply measure the student's grasp of the material. This ever increasing politically correct notion of not using standardized tests is hogwash. Should teachers not use quizzes or end of semester tests? Should we ban tests for driver's licenses, or eliminate the bar exam next? This is where this argument is heading.
Oh, lover of standardized testing. I would not point to the Bar Exam as an ideal to which we should strive. One to many bad lawyers in the land, maybe because standardized tests don't test moral, social or legal obligations. Same goes for driver's tests.
Quizzes, tests and finals are, not necessarily, standardized, but usually localized.
All tests do not, and cannot, measure the student's grasp of the material. That would mean tests are the perfect measure of knowledge and skill, which, I'm sure you'd agree, is ridiculous.
I detect, in your use of the cliche "politically correct" that you think opposition to ever-increasing use of standardized testing is a liberal plot. I think you'll find the opposition to these ridiculous tests flows across idealogical lines.
BTW, it's strange indeed, that most elite, private schools do not use these tests on a regular basis. And in fact, when their students are forced to take such tests as the SAT, they are coached in the predictable bits of "knowledge" that will be tested, and in the game theory needed to outsmart the mechanics of the test.
Finally, if these tests are so goldurned powerful, why don't we test the very people who are foisting them on us - the Prez, the Gov, the Ed Commish?
My name is: a. Bob b. Seb c. Cholmondeley d. Ed e. Anon
Hey ed4ed I'm with anon 7:14 don't think I want a doctor who hasn't passed medical boards, recognizing that a persons character cannot be measured by these exams. But last I knew the standardized tests are not designed to measure those subjective intangibles.
5 comments:
If tests in fact measure the degree of accomplishment of the assigned mission (to teach the curriculum), tests are essential and "teaching to the test" is another way of saying "doing the job."
Opposition to "testing" as such is absurd. The people who established and pay for the public school system have a right to know how well each grade, school, and district is doing.
If there is a problem with a test or a whole testing regime, in that it does not accurately measure how successfully pupils have learned their curricular objectives, criticism should be so framed and articulated.
Generalized "test-bashing" and especially criticism of "teaching to the test" is the language of people who want access to ever-increasing amounts of public funds without corresponding accountability.
Nice deal if you can swing it politically by hijacking people's concern for children and for education.
Anon 7:22:
First off, it's a shame that such a well-written comment must be published anonymously. Is there something you're ashamed of?
You lead with a syllogism, that, if false, negates your whole objection.
"If tests in fact measure the degree of accomplishment..."
Of course, many have found that tests do not accurately measure educational accomplishment.
BTW, generalized bashing of "teach to the test" bashers shows a complete lack of respect for people who deeply understand that formulating curriculum to match a standardized test makes a farce of teaching a class of students so diverse that a standardized test could never hope to measure them accurately.
Finally, your comment is posted on a notice talking about stress release, and you use it to hop on your hobby horse to criticize "people who want access to ever-increasing amounts of public funds."
There's a meaningful debate to be had there, of course, by god, education in CT has been underfunded in Connecticut for years.
All tests, including the standardized tests, simply measure the student's grasp of the material. This ever increasing politically correct notion of not using standardized tests is hogwash. Should teachers not use quizzes or end of semester tests? Should we ban tests for driver's licenses, or eliminate the bar exam next? This is where this argument is heading.
Anon: 7:14.
Oh, lover of standardized testing. I would not point to the Bar Exam as an ideal to which we should strive. One to many bad lawyers in the land, maybe because standardized tests don't test moral, social or legal obligations. Same goes for driver's tests.
Quizzes, tests and finals are, not necessarily, standardized, but usually localized.
All tests do not, and cannot, measure the student's grasp of the material. That would mean tests are the perfect measure of knowledge and skill, which, I'm sure you'd agree, is ridiculous.
I detect, in your use of the cliche "politically correct" that you think opposition to ever-increasing use of standardized testing is a liberal plot. I think you'll find the opposition to these ridiculous tests flows across idealogical lines.
BTW, it's strange indeed, that most elite, private schools do not use these tests on a regular basis. And in fact, when their students are forced to take such tests as the SAT, they are coached in the predictable bits of "knowledge" that will be tested, and in the game theory needed to outsmart the mechanics of the test.
Finally, if these tests are so goldurned powerful, why don't we test the very people who are foisting them on us - the Prez, the Gov, the Ed Commish?
My name is:
a. Bob
b. Seb
c. Cholmondeley
d. Ed
e. Anon
And yours?
Hey ed4ed I'm with anon 7:14 don't think I want a doctor who hasn't passed medical boards, recognizing that a persons character cannot be measured by these exams. But last I knew the standardized tests are not designed to measure those subjective intangibles.
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