If you have not had the opportunity to stand for half a day (or more) in a classroom and oversee the administration of standardized testing, then you have truly missed out on one of the most oxymoronic practices of education. Let me be clear...I don't hate tests. What I don't like is what we have made testing into for students, teachers, and schools.
For those that don't know, indulge me for a moment to paint a picture:
Teachers must remove or cover all posters, bookshelves, and bulletin boards (instructional or motivational, or informational) from their rooms. The very items they encourage students to use on a daily basis as learning helps and references.
Students can have NOTHING at their desks. No pictures to color or game sheets for after the test. No snacks. If they are lucky, they might get to have a water bottle but it has to be in a clear and unmarked container. Water bottles get tricky though.
Only one student is ever allowed to leave the room at a time if they must go to the restroom. And even then, an adult must accompany and it can't be one of the two adults overseeing the test in their room. So schools scramble to find any warm body that can serve as hall monitors and proctors.
And the tests usually last for three hours or more. No one can move until the entire building has finished testing. Now, consider the timing. Most schools have to begin lunch service at about 10:30 in the morning in order to serve all of their students. Are you beginning to see the problem? Lunch becomes a sack lunch for testing days that is carried back to the room and eaten by exhausted kids.
The content of the test is based on "the standards." Now mind you, most English Language Arts standards cover hundreds of objectives. But also interesting is that most of the reading passages are classic literature or non-fiction on topics like underwater currents of the ocean. Not exactly the topics most 11-year-olds freely pick up to read. But because these are open source this is what the test uses.
And if you are wondering about the results...they don't come in until the end of the summer. Schools and teachers don't even get to see the questions students missed, error analysis, or even the students' open responses. So there is no way for teachers to know where they need to change their instructional approaches nor for schools to inform the next teacher of a student's areas of improvement with any specificity.
So tell me how this is helpful to anyone? How is this hullabaloo of testing students using content completely foreign to them in an unfamiliar/masked environment void of any aids with results that are simply a number helpful to anyone? Yes, testing has its place. But let's be practical about it. We can do better and we should.
And, if you are one of the fortunate ones that have not assisted with state testing, I encourage you to volunteer at a local school. Visit the school office and let them know you will volunteer. And, if you have the means, take a coffee, pastry, or gift card for the teacher. Their career and performance are often judged by this single event. They are stressed. They could use your act of kindness.
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