Do standardized tests drive your instruction in the classroom? Tell us why.
sally
- 11/13/2011 20:33
Our evaluations and pay are determined by student test scores. We have no creativity, and the backstabbing within our school system is horrible! According to today's paper, more reform to come, and less money for public schools.
joyce nolan
- 11/13/2011 17:48
Standardized testing does drive instruction. In my district test results have become part of the teacher evaluation system.
Sue
- 11/07/2011 22:01
We may say that standardized tests do not drive our instruction but how many educators are required to devote blocks of time each day for test practice? How many classrooms gear up for the big test by spending the month prior to the test taking practice tests and then reteaching and progress monitoring students that show difficulties in a strand? How many workbooks are in your classrooms that are devoted to preparing students for the state standardized test? How many schools hold after school tutoring to prepare students for the test? How about those SMART goals...how many goals have to do with how well your students are going to do on the state test? How many teachers have been told to concentrate their attention on level 3 students so that the might move to level 4? These high stakes tests have sucked the creativity out of teaching and the joy out of learning.
Shelby Knapp
- 11/07/2011 13:12
Unfortunately, I believe many of the government intervention has be taking over the school systems, and have replaced knowledgable educators with a group of policy-makers. The policy-makers do not have a clue what today's modern teachers have to deal with in the scope and realm of real life in the students in the classrooms. Broken homes, multiple types of abuse and unsupportive parents are 2 of the major problems in the classroom. We are not allowing the student the time to experience learning, or to enjoy it.
Lynn
- 11/07/2011 10:45
No -- We assess learning primarily through observing children as they learn. Hands-on projects, partnership skills, project definition and planning -- none of these are well assessed by standardized tests that are primarily content-based. We give them in our independent elementary school, our students do well, but they do not define our program.
