Standardized testing is always a hot topic in educational news. Usually I find articles o standardized testing to be from the same old, depressing point of view. But, this week, I read three articles, each focused on a unique issue and with a different perspective.
This week, one individual told me that she keeps her children home during testing time. To this comment, a colleague remarked, "You can do that?" How radical right? Well it turns out that a significant number of families in New York school systems are keeping their children at home during field tests of the new Common Core Curriculum test questions. As the standards have changed in this state, new tests need to be administered. Twice a year, students are required to take field tests to determine the quality of drafted test questions. These same families however, do not feel they can take the risk of keeping their children at home on the day the official test is administered as it would likely impact the chances of student promotion for the following school year. (New York Times)
But what happens when an administrator persuade high school students to stay home on testing day? The answer: they are arrested and fined. One superintendent in El Paso, Texas is being accused of removing low achieving students from the tenth grade--sending them home, holding them back, promoting them to eleventh grade--to avoid having them take a standardized test in order to show higher passing rates for monetary gain. Families and students accuse this man of influencing higher student drop out rates as well; if their not good enough to be in school on testing day, why should the go to school at all? (New York Times)
Standardized testing may cause more harm than good you may say; however, there are scholars that con look past student distress and see the benefits of analyzing student learning potential and progress. Some of these scholars say that the standardized tests administered in most states aren't enough, that we could be and should be testing students in kindergarten. Doing so would allow teachers and administrators to respond sooner with early intervention and to assess which students will need more extensive support throughout the school years. (Education News)
Who will win, the scholars, the administrators, or the parents/students?
Read these articles and others from the week in my Public Diigo Library.
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