Thursday, May 19, 2005
Learning to Pass the Test
I’ve been tutoring a 2nd grader in reading for about four months now. I found out the other day that she is reading at grade level! This is awesome because that is a primary academic goal for a 2nd grader, one that they are really supposed to pass before they move on to the next grade. She was cutting it really close, with only a few weeks left in the year to reach grade level. I feel a little sorry for her, because she finally reached this big goal, but she will likely have to spend all of next year trying to reach the 3rd grade reading level.
The amount of pressure put on kids in California to pass the myriad standardized assessments the state has established for them is insane. This fact has been beaten to death by lots of educators who know more about it then I do, but I have seen for myself how stressed-out and anxious seven year olds can get about testing.
I remember having FUN in elementary school. These kids spend most of the day working on reading, with an hour or so for math and maybe a half hour on art, music, PE, science, or history. Language Arts and Mathematics are very important subjects. However, got must schools the focus is on reading and math because that is what the kids will be tested on at the end of the school year. Kids need to do well on the tests so that the teacher don’t get in trouble with the school and the schools don’t get in trouble with the government because their testing results don’t meet expectations. So, what you get are teachers “teaching to the test,” focusing primarily on content students might be tested on. It is kind of like a high school student taking an SAT prep course that lasts all school year long. And the question is, How is all of this helping our students?
Check out sample California Standards Tests from a variety of grade levels here.
Feel free to leave comments about your own experiences with/opinions about schools and high-stakes testing.
The amount of pressure put on kids in California to pass the myriad standardized assessments the state has established for them is insane. This fact has been beaten to death by lots of educators who know more about it then I do, but I have seen for myself how stressed-out and anxious seven year olds can get about testing.
I remember having FUN in elementary school. These kids spend most of the day working on reading, with an hour or so for math and maybe a half hour on art, music, PE, science, or history. Language Arts and Mathematics are very important subjects. However, got must schools the focus is on reading and math because that is what the kids will be tested on at the end of the school year. Kids need to do well on the tests so that the teacher don’t get in trouble with the school and the schools don’t get in trouble with the government because their testing results don’t meet expectations. So, what you get are teachers “teaching to the test,” focusing primarily on content students might be tested on. It is kind of like a high school student taking an SAT prep course that lasts all school year long. And the question is, How is all of this helping our students?
Check out sample California Standards Tests from a variety of grade levels here.
Feel free to leave comments about your own experiences with/opinions about schools and high-stakes testing.
# posted by Alison @ 11:45 PM 