Professor Gives Standardized Tests an "F"

[LWolf]

<snip>

I know public education is not a hot topic on the tv or radio, or on the front page of GD here at DU, (unless there's a scandal to report,) but it damned well OUGHT to be.

A local professor gives standardized tests a failing grade. A new book by an MSU professor says those tests are the wrong way to judge a student. It's a debate that's been heating up across the nation. Every school has to give them, every student has to take them. Standardized tests, like the Michigan merit exam or the MEAP, used to measure student success, a practice Yong Zhao claims is majorly flawed.

Yong Zhao, MSU distinguished education Professor: "Test scores just reflect a very small fraction of what you do, basically what a test tests is your test taking skills."

Zhao says, rather than judging schools on the scores they produce, they should be graded on the opportunities they provide.

Yong Zhao: "I think education should provide as many opportunities as possible to support student's passion and interest and help them pursue, realize their dreams and potential."

http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=11026091&nav=menu25_2

Obama returned the education policy book I sent off to him last November, on election day. Perhaps if I get a couple of copies of this book, and send it, a couple of pages a day, to both Obama and Duncan?

A couple of chapters are available here:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109076.aspx

Edited to add a link to the author speaking about standardized testing:

http://zhao.educ.msu.edu/2009/08/07/no-child-left-behind-and-global-competitiveness/

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Test scores tell us what kids know on one day

They don't reflect real learning.

[LWolf]

9. Which is one of the several reasons why

we should not be obsessed with those scores, and we should not be using them to "assess" teachers.

[Swamp Rat]

2. The entire (charter) school system in New Orleans, which is replacing the public schools,

is going to be based on standardized testing. The school board is firing all the career teachers with advanced degrees and teaching certificates, and replacing them with Teach For America people, who have little or no experience, nor advanced degrees and certificates. These new hires are very young from out of state, and are paid much lower wages. I watched a city council meeting today, and they discussed changing the entire system where advanced education and seniority will no longer be considered for teaching positions, nor teacher retention and raises. Teachers will be promoted and given raises solely based on standardized test scores of the students. Oh, private banks are buying the schools though sponsorship, and they are the driving force behind these changes. Other changes include: elimination of art and language classes.

This is the new business model which will replace all public education here. Of course, this is easy for them to do since we are still in recovery from hurricane Katrina.

[teacher gal]

7. disaster capitalism

This is what education reform is all about, turning over a public good to private profit. The childhood poverty crisis in America, in addition to Hurricane Katrina, are prime examples of crises providing opportunity for private profiteering under the guise of concern for children and education reform.

[Swamp Rat]

12. That is it exactly.

I was shocked when I saw a bank name recently added to six schools, one of which I attended.

[LWolf]

10. I'm so sorry to hear that.

:(

[Swamp Rat]

15. Me too

especially since a family member just lost a job after a lifetime of teaching, before retirement.... so no benefits. :(

[LWolf]

19. One of my colleagues was RIF'd this spring

after 19 years with this district. Not enough years to retire, but no other districts hiring in this region, either.

I'm feeling lucky to have a job, even with the 2 pay cuts we've taken since March, and with the added duties we have to compensate for all those job cuts this year.

It's been tough. It's going to get tougher.

For your family member, my colleague:

:hug:

[teacher gal]

3. Did I read you right?

Obama returned the book you sent him?

Not too long ago I watched a video of Zhao on this topic. Excellent. Find it here:

http://zhao.educ.msu.edu/2009/08/07/no-child-left-behind-and-global-competitiveness/

The Asian countries are wanting to move away from an obsession with testing while our administration wants to attach even more high-stakes to the results of the tests (merit pay for teachers).

All the corruption that occurs from high-stakes testing is being laid bare but no one is listening, especially our leaders.

[teacher gal]

4. and here's another Rec

[LWolf]

13. His staff returned it.

With the letter of congratulations I sent unopened.

I don't rank as high as Chavez, lol.

Thank you for the link.

I'm watching now. If there is still time, I may add it to the OP.

[FarCenter]

5. We need people who can actually get things done

and not little morons with wonderful personalities pursuing their passions and dreams.

Everyone tests in order to find out what you can do -- colleges, employers, armed forces, community theater, ...

[LWolf]

8. Aptitude testing bears no relationship whatsoever

to the standardized tests used in public education today, or to the purpose those test scores are put.

Do you really not understand this issue?

[FarCenter]

20. Michigan Merit Exam -- one of the tests that the Professor objected to

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/MME_article_3.15.07__190607_7.pdf

The exam will provide students with:
• A free ACT college entrance exam score that can be used to apply to college. In other words, you no longer have to pay to have your child take the ACT. Students will be allowed one free retake of the MME if they did not qualify for the Michigan Promise scholarship.
• A free WorkKeys assessment that connects work skills training, and testing to improve students’ education and job opportunities.
• Michigan assessments that measure what students know that parents, educators and employers say is important in core subject areas and not covered in the ACT and WorkKeys.

What is wrong with this?

My understanding of the ACT is that is more of an achievement test than an aptitude test, such as the SAT. Even then, the SAT Advanced Placement tests are more achievement tests than aptitude tests.

Even in the arts, you have auditions, exhibits, and reviews of your work by employers, galleries, companies, etc.

Every salesman knows that the first 10-20 seconds when they meet with a client is a critical test.

[LWolf]

22. Take the time to watch the video

in the link I added, if you need to.

The professor is not talking about ACTs and SATs. He's talking about the corrupt, abused, and misused standardized testing under NCLB.

[FarCenter]

25. I did -- alas, the Professor is even more fuzzy-minded than I had feared

"we don't judge" "we just celebrate their talents"

The Chinese-educated professers and professionals that I know are extremely authoritarian, judgmental, and competitive.

This guy has probably figured out that the way to get ahead is to adopt the most extreme position of the US educational academic establishment.

[teacher gal]

26. FarCenter

Do you think it is right that under NCLB, all children, regardless of IQ, regardless of life circumstances, are held to exactly the same standards? Only the most profoundly disabled kids are exempted from the tests or allowed to take an alternative test. NCLB virtually denies human variability. It is one thing to push all students to reach their potential, quite another to label kids, teachers, and schools failures based on a metric that is absurd.

I don't think our country became great through the standardization of its population. Quite the contrary. I'll say it again. It isn't testing. It's the abuse and misuse and overuse of testing.

[FarCenter]

28. Actually, I think that children should be grouped by ability and not age

The curriculum should be geared to the ability of the students.

The tests should be geared to determining whether the students have mastered the material.

I think schemes like New York City's, where teachers have to do plans for each student in a class that varies widely in terms of ability and willingness to learn, are impractical.

[teacher gal]

29. Thank you for your response.

Doing away with grade levels is quite an interesting proposition and something I've often thought about. It would present its own set of problems but in my opinion, you're making some common sense here.

From previous comments (I should go back and re-read) I was wondering if you were confusing NCLB mandated tests in K-12 with college entrance tests like SAT and ACT??

[FarCenter]

31. The test materials on Michigan Educational Assessment Program look like achievement tests

See http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-22709_31168_31355---,00.html

I downloaded some sample test items and they look similar to what I remember (long, long ago) as the annual achievement tests that we took.

Again, my recollection is that the tests were from Iowa -- probably similar to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_Tests_of_Educational_Development and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_Tests_of_Basic_Skills

The CEEB SAT is not what I had in mind.

[paulsby]

33. i generally agree with you

another huge plus to a standardized test is the lack of subjectivity. let's face it, grades are incredibly subjective. an ethical teacher can still let his biases about a student affect his grading of them, an UNethical teacher can flat out make a great student look good or a good student look mediocre.

fwiw, i got into a college almost solely on account of my SAT's. thank god for those tests.

i also went to a school (private) at one point that totally let us go at our own pace. iow, i could do "5th grade math" in 4th grade, if i finished the 4th grade assignments and got good grades on the tests.

public schools ime are much more artificial in imposing ceilings on gifted students. they WAY too often cater to the lowest common denominator, academically.

[LWolf]

35. That statement alone

tells me that you have no clue what the positions of the "US educational academic establishment" are.

Are you an educator? Have you done the job, or do you just sit on the outside spouting right-wing propaganda?

[teacher gal]

17. Teachers do not oppose assessment per se.

They assess all the time and assessment is necessary. The issue is opposition to HIGH-STAKES testing, in addition to the overuse and misuse of the tests. It is causing much harm to students, teachers, and schools alike and is resulting in unprecedented levels of corruption due to the life-altering consequences attached to the tests. David Berliner and Sharon Nichols have documented this extensively in "Collateral Damage".

I repeat, it isn't testing. It's the gross misuse of testing to advance a political agenda, no matter who the hell gets hurt. I have to test children with IQs in the 60s with the same grade level tests as their regular education peers. You are aware that if even one subgroup of students, say special education students or English Language Learners, do not score proficient, the entire school is labeled a failure? There is some flexibility via subgroup size but this is not stopping thousands of America's public schools from being labeled failures and turned over to the private sector, DESPITE evidence that the private sector performs no better.

Education reform is a colossal scam.

[sabrina 1]

24. Excellent post, I couldn't agree with you more

You are aware that if even one subgroup of students, say special education students or English Language Learners, do not score proficient, the entire school is labeled a failure? There is some flexibility via subgroup size but this is not stopping thousands of America's public schools from being labeled failures and turned over to the private sector, DESPITE evidence that the private sector performs no better.

They are using to TEACH, rather than to ASSESS. And as you point out, children with learning disabilities or from homes where their is abuse etc. cannot be fairly tested against groups who do not have these problems

But NCLB was designed to make schools fail. The whole 'education' program was not written by educators, it was written basically by businessmen.

And if anyone really wants to know why there is so much testing, follow the money, as always.

Bush friends and contributers who publish school materials, such as tests, Harcourt, Brace, McGraw Hill have all profited hugely by forcing this testing program on the School System:

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/12-bush-profiteers-collect-billions-from-no-child-left-behind/

While the Business Roundtable maintains that the high-stakes tests administered nationwide hold schools accountable to “Adequate Yearly Progress,” NCLB has instead benefited the testing industry in the amount of between $1.9 and $5.3 billion a year. NCLB requires states to produce “interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports,” all of which are provided at a price by members of the industry. Among these are the top four or five players in the textbook market, including the Big Three—McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin, and Harcourt General—who have, since the passage of NCLB, come to dominate the testing market. Identified by Wall Street analysts in the wake of the 2000 election as “Bush stocks,” all three represent owners like Harold McGraw III, who has longstanding ties to the Bush administration and the lobbying efforts of Sandy Kress.

It was never, not even remotely about holding anyone accountable, as always with anything to do with Bush, it was the exact opposite. It was all about profits. Testing should be used only after children have been taught. Had real educators been involved, what you have said in your post would have been a huge consideration in how to use testing.

Of all the Bush initiatives it's hard to choose which one was the most cynical, but NCLB is definitely way up there because it sacrifices the future of this country for profit. Teachers hated it from day one, but were made to feel like they were just whining. Imo, I consider this bill to be criminal in his deception and in what it has done to the educational system which wasn't great to begin with.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. "little morons with wonderful personalities"?!

What is that supposed to mean?

[FarCenter]

30. Take progressive thinkers, for example -- happy, well-developed, self-satisfied personalities?

Or disciplined, driven people pursuing innovative social and political ideas with intellectual rigor?

We need more of the latter.

[Dora]

38. And testing does nothing to ensure those qualities.

Discipline, ambition, innovation, social and political awareness, and critical thinking are qualities that are squelched by today's high-stakes testing in the elementary and high schools.

[rucky]

36. We need both.

And this debate is about how you measure achievement. The criticism is and has always been that high-stakes testing does not accomplish that. Nobody's against assessment, but we need to agree on some fair ways to reflect student's performance in a more authentic way.

[Solly Mack]

6. K&R

[BlooInBloo]

11. (shrug) Education major. 'Nuff said.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

14. K&R

[liberal N proud]

16. Schools teach to the standardized test

They spend so much time preparing the students for one day of testing that they miss teaching students.

[LWolf]

21. Because they are complying with mandates.

That's part of the game. The law says, when they don't make AYP for a couple of years, they have to adopt an "improvement plan."

Those improvement plans aren't accepted unless they include things like adopting scripted curriculum produced by political supporters, paying to bring in "trainers" from corporations that "train" teachers to teach to the test, etc..

[teacher gal]

23. I'd like to try to keep this thread up there.

There is much rightly being discussed about health care reform and the alarming possibility that the nation will basically get no reform at all. I hope Obama sticks to his guns and does not capitulate to corporate interests. And I wish people would connect the dots to the corporate attacks on public education. In the case of health care reform, they are seeking to BLOCK needed reform. In the case of education reform, they are seeking to IMPOSE destructive reforms to dismantle and undermine public education. In both cases, they are winning.

It's time for a radical change in the direction this country is headed.

[teacher gal]

27. another kick for this issue n/t

[teacher gal]

32. 'Nite

One last kick from me for this thread. Thanks LWolf.

[LWolf]

34. And good morning.

I'm off to school, but will check when I get home tonight.

Assuming I have any brain cells still functioning by then, lol.

[Johonny]

37. New York state

had standardize test for years. And they had a great educational system when I grew up. I think they are fine for what they are used for. I think people don't understand what they are used for. Sadly even many politicians and educators.

[LWolf]

39. I know the history of standardized testing.

They weren't developed for their current use.

This educator studied standardized testing as part of "psychological measurement" for my sociology degree.

Standardized testing has been going on since I was in school, and I'll be 50 next year.

Before the "standards and accountability movement," though, they were not an obsession. One test a year for students at benchmark grade levels, without the misconception that they could possibly be a measure of all learning is not the same thing. Nobody pretended that those test scores were infallible, or the ultimate goal in education, or more important than any other measure of student learning.

All tests, all the time, used to measure, not the individuals taking the tests, but the groups taking the test; and used to score, not the students taking the test, but schools and teachers...

that is a corrupt use of standardized tests.

Sadly, even some DUers obviously don't understand how they have been corrupted.