Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Testing.... So much testing
It is quarter 4 and as an eighth grade teacher, I am starting to feel the pressure of state testing. I can also see the exhaustion that is it causing to each of my students. Eighth graders are taking their math, science and reading MCA's all during quarter 4 and that doesn't even include the MAP tests for math and reading which they will also be taking during quarter 4. My students will have some sort of state test almost every week for the remainder of the school year. While state tests are very important to measure a students growth and comparison, I feel they cause many students shut down and not work to their full potential if they are overwhelmed with tests week after week. I would like to pose the question: How much testing is too much? Do students benefit from taking multiple State tests during a quarter?
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It does seems like an awful lot of testing in a short time frame. We just discussed this topic at our book club meeting last night. I wondered (with no answer, of course) how we could perhaps shortened the tests but perhaps do it more frequently. But then I also wondered, not all teachers in the state/nation teach the content in a prescribed way. Each district is given the option to unpack the standards and design a curriculum they think best meets the needs of students. So if testing were to occur more frequently over fewer strands/standards, then there would have to be a more prescribed way to teach it and it would offer less flexible for individual districts/teachers.
ReplyDeleteSo, I struggle. I see your point in that there is so much testing in the spring in a condensed amount of time but how do we balance that will trying to provide a "testing progress report" for kids/parents/dept of ed/etc?