A take on testing
Remember when The Chalkboard predicted that someone would make the common - yet false - claim that U.S. students are falling behind their international peers?
Well, such a claim appears in this week's edition of The Independent, a liberal alt-weekly publication distributed in the Raleigh-Durham area.
In all fairness, columnist Bob Burtman addresses far more than the supposed gap between U.S. and global students. He criticizes North Carolina's standardized testing system, which evaluates schools and distributes teacher pay bonuses based on multiple choice test scores. Burtman calls the teacher pay bonuses, which can reach $1,500, "the most destructive aspect of the state testing program."
His contention is that by offering substantial pay bonuses, the state strongly encourages teachers to "teach to the test." He also believes the opportunities to earn bonuses could drive good teachers away from low-performing schools.
It's not our place here at The Chalkboard to decide if Burtman's opinions are on target - we will leave that to you. But we can take a look at some of the facts he cites.
Burtman is absolutely right that teachers are encouraged to teach to the test. But testing supporters say that is what they should do. The tests are based on the state's curriculum, which tells teachers what students should know at each grade level. So anything on a state test is something that students are expected to learn.
However, it is indisputably true that the emphasis on tested subjects, namely reading and math, has pushed other subjects to the side.
Students simply don't get as much science, social studies, art, music and physical education as they did in the 1970s and '80s. Some teachers try to incorporate some of these subjects in their reading and math lesson (using a history essay to teach reading, for example), but compared to past generations, these non-tested subjects get the short shrift.
Burtman also is correct when he notes the state's testing program has troubling flaws.
This year, only two of 388 North Carolina middle schools met their goals in sixth-grade reading, raising suspicions that the scores were artificially low. State Board of Education members threw out the 2002 writing results after scores inexplicably dropped by 20 points.
The opposite situation happened in 2001, when a scoring error with the state's math tests led to virtually every student in the state receiving a passing mark.
Part, perhaps much, of the problem stems from the secrecy surrounding the state tests. Unlike many other states, North Carolina does not release the test questions to the public after the tests are administered.
But Burtman is wrong when he says the testing system indirectly "perpetuates the longstanding achievement gap between wealthy white and poor minority students."
At least the facts say he's wrong. The test score gap between North Carolina's white and black students was 21.5 percentage points in 2003-04. In 1996-97, the first year of state testing, that gap was more than 34 percentage points.
I also don't know that it's fair to say that the $1,500 pay bonuses are an incentive for teachers to leave poor-neighborhood schools.
It's true that these schools are hard to staff, but money doesn't seem to be the issue. A few years ago, Guilford County Schools Superintendent Terry Grier offered $7,500 salary bonuses to teachers willing to work in the district's poorest schools. But virtually no one took him up on the offer - many veteran teachers didn't want to work in these schools, even for significantly more money - so the district abandoned the incentives program.
Still, it's rare for an opinion writer to take such an in-depth look at the admittedly dry topic of state testing. Kudos to Burtman for starting the conversation.
Comments (6)
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Excellent.
Posted on January 1, 2005 11:36 PM
Bruce,
Enjoyed this post immensely.
Some kind of testing will always be around as a necessary measure but many of the issues mentioned Burtman's editorial hold true. Perhaps the testing systems needs a major overhaul.
I know from subbing that in elementary school in January, at some schools, we use much of the Math lesson to work from test practice books. Where is the "thinking" part of learning math. With a subject like Math, which is a building skill, you can "pass" a high percentage of kids in Algebra I, for instance. Does that mean that they truly understand it and can solve problems on their own? Are they ready for the next Math levels? In many cases, not really.
Another problem arose at the High School level this year where in some of the other classes, say Science, for instance, the material that appeared on the standardized test sent out by the county, had not been covered by the teacher. How do you know every teacher is teaching what will be covered on the standardized test and in that time frame? There are so many lateral entry teachers now or lack of experienced teachers to teach Math and certain other subjects.
When my daughter was in 4th grade, there was an end-of-grade Social Studies test at the time. A rookie teacher in that grade level taught from the wrong book all year and basically the entire class failed the SS test. Why was this allowed to happen? Currently, there is not a standardized test for Social Studies at the end of the year for 4th grade that I am aware of. But things like this do happen when dealing with the human factor of testing.
In many cases, more class time is given to Reading and Math. Some days it is hard to fit in Social Studies and Science. In most cases these specific subjects are alternated and "fit in" to the day. If kids leave for Speech; EOC; AL or other special classes, it is usually during subjects other than Math and English so theses students have to play catch up.
With the teacher bonuses, it is very discouraging for the great, dedicated teachers who may be in a school not meeting their goals, to be left out year after year On the other hand, teachers receive an hourly fee - I believe $22.00 to stay after school and tutor to help the low achievers. Part of the incentive to stay beside the hourly pay is the "carrot" of that yearly bonus and maybe working as part of a winning team if they like their school. If there were no "cash and prizes" how many would go the extra mile on their own? (Remember the survey on teachers' morale.)
Thank you for keeping us thinking, Bruce.
Posted on January 2, 2005 7:53 AM
Good to hear from you, David and Barbara Ann. The Chalkboard has been a little quiet lately - I guess we've been on a holiday break, just like the schools. But things should get revved back up pretty quickly here in the new year.
Posted on January 3, 2005 12:08 PM
With pressure from all sides for students to get good grades to be accepted by their choice of colleges-for achievement gaps to close-for ABC's to be met-for teachers to get their 'bonus' how do we concentrate on real 'learning.' I definitely agree that academics are the most important aspect of school, but we need to remember that the 'arts' and social skills are a valubable aspect that sometimes gets lost. Will kids fail the EOG's because they spend a couple of hours doing something fun and creative? There has to be a balance. I have always wondered if the teachers just followed the cirriculum and then the kids took the test; would they not do well... I'm not saying this well, but what I mean is if the material is covered well then does it not follow that the kids will do well on the test. I fear that we worry about test scores instead of the 'learning' that will endure over time.
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