What do you think about testing for kids in school? I mean specifically - state standardized testing. Do you see it as a necessary thing for teachers and schools to evaluate kids?
I have three children, and each of them are different in every way. One is an advanced student and "gifted" according to teachers. He can spend five minutes studying for a test, and easily make the "A". Math and science in particular come super easy to him. My daughter is also a good student (and much of the time outscores her brother - they are twins.) But for every five minutes he spends studying, she spends three hours. My youngest is smart in a common-sense, can-remember-all-kinds-of-facts way, but it does not translate to paper. Academics in school is a struggle for him.
So I've got two who love to show off their test scores to me. It's proof that they are succeeding, that they are smart, that we can be proud of them. But for one, test scores squash him, make him feel frustrated, and in general - they don't work for him.
I've always held though, that you still need these scores and these benchmarks to know where your child lies on a spectrum. If my child will not be able to get into college because of an inability to score well on tests, then - I need to plan for that! I need to help my child develop skills that will enhance any future career he will have, whatever it may be, and however it takes me to accomplish it.
So - as painful as they can be for some, the tests do shed light.
There are problems with testing, though. And they're big problems that we all agree on and know about. Who gets to decide what the standards are? Do testing companies who create curriculum decide? Does federal government get to decide? State government?
I live in Oklahoma, and some of these standards are absolutely ridiculous for the appropriate age. Kids learn and grow in so many ways. No test can measure that, and the hoops one has to jump through to get special services are many.
I think there are several levels of problems that lead to crazy standardized testing. Here are a few:
1 - We don't trust our teachers anymore to do the job.
2 - We don't pay our teachers well. So, the great teachers we DO have get lost in the shuffle of BAD teachers who bring a reputation of untrustworthiness. Bad teachers are only there because the schools need teachers so badly they'll sometimes just hire anyone. If we raised our standards and paid our teachers well, it would weed out the bad.
3 - We trust curriculum companies and large companies to tell us what we should be teaching.
4 - Schools spend most of their time trying to find ways to raise money for their schools, instead of educating.
5 - We aren't teaching our pre-k and kindergarten levels properly. Good teachers already know this, but they are STUCK. Stuck teaching to a test when they know that kids this age should be learning through play and social skill learning. Kids are behind because we are pushing too hard in the wrong areas from the start.
A LOT of parents I know are leaving public schools to either homeschool or private school, or possibly charter school. Most of the reasons I hear are because their child is falling through the cracks at the local public.
And we realize - it's not these teachers or schools - it's the system they are trying to operate under.
I hope we can do better! Because I'm still a proponent of testing in general, just to see if your child has skills that translate to paper for the rest of the world, I am trying to create reading tools (like this how to determine the reading level of your child test) that help parents know where thier child is in reading.
Somehow, we need a change. Hopefully we can see the real problem, and correct them before we let our children down. I think we can do it!
Amy
Comments(1)