In looking at common core standard and smarter balanced assessment I have been thinking about assessment in a whole new way. I have been reading about assessment for my concept paper for our EDUC 606 class. I have been reading about what standardized test are actually testing vs. what people think or use the test for. Currently standardize test only test what a student knows, not how they learn, how much a student could learn or how successful a student they are. But people use these test to decide how "good" a school is, if the teachers in the school are good, if the students are "smart" or "capable".
With this new smarter balanced assessment I wonder what other things people will falsely interpret and how the results will be skewed by the use of a computer as the format of the test. We discussed in class the different ways we would have to prepare our students for taking a test on the computer and the different challenges the different subject areas face but we did not really discuss how capable young people are with technology.
Clearly some of the test taking strategies are different when they are asked to write complete sentences to explain their answers and math and have no opportunity to explain their answers with a drawing or in math equations. But should we worry about them knowing how to operate a computer? I know that not all kids have access to a computer at home by the time they reach us in high school how fluent will they be with a keyboard and finding the symbols on the keyboard? I would assume this would be incredibly dependant on where you are teaching. But is it fair to have students take a test in a format they are not familiar with or do not know how to use? or a better question is this equitable? Whose shoulders does it fall on to make sure that all students can operate a keyboard or know how to drag and drop an object?
It seems to me that the students who are going to have to hardest time taking a test on a computer are the students who are already struggling with the lack of an educational environment at home. Student's whose families cannot afford a computer or a smart phone. How will they learn if their school cannot afford to give them all enough time in the computer lab? How can we make sure that they are all comfortable with the keyboard? Whose class time does that come out of?
I realize that this post is a lot of questions but I think I need to think about these questions a little longer before I make a decision or start to formulate how I will teach in these situations.
These are some of the situations you'll probably encounter no matter where you teach. Our students this summer came from a diverse set of households: some from upper middle class, who had smartphones and multiple computers at home, and others from lower class homes with limited access to technology. To me, if even one student does not have access at home, SBAs are not equitable. And if that's the case, we as educators should be prepared to make some sacrifices to make sure our students have the time they need to get comfortable with test formats.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed a lot of the points you bring up in this post! Your paper for 606 sounds really interesting and I think you'll probably learn a lot just from doing research! You bring up some interesting points about equality when it comes to computer literacy. What do we do as teachers when our students aren't technologically prepared to take these examinations? What about our specific subject areas? I remember having multiple "typing" classes throughout my younger schooling years but do these still exist? I agree with Griffin in the sense that we'll probably have to make academic sacrifices to help prepare our students for the tests.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to talk/think more about how to assess learning as opposed to testing the ability to recall information. What would that kind of assessment look like and in what form does it already exist? I would love to have an opportunity to assess my own instruction based on an assessment of HOW my students are learning. This would allow teachers to develop curriculum based on ZPD, differentiation, etc. Let's change the system!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Eliza! I think that one of the most important aspects of assessment is understanding the information you are looking to receive from the assessment. Are you looking for students to master to content or are you looking for the gaps in knowledge. The way that our country uses standardized test they should be used as an assessment for what students know but they are being used to assess teaching and learning which is not fair and not valid.
DeleteThese exams are so awkward, I don't really want to admit how many questions I was getting wrong... on the third grade ones. You make a really important point about these assessments really only testing what kids know, their background knowledge. I worry the SBA is now really testing a kid's experience with computers and webpage norms. Is the SBA still going through vetting for validity of questions and whatnot? I hope so, otherwise, we have a lot of work to do to get our kids prepared for this and it's compounded by the equity issues.
ReplyDeleteI find it pretty interesting how testing has changed over time. On the one hand, if the tests are designed to be adaptive, fantastic. On the other, the technological limitations and hurdles may be considerable. Get ready for fun!
ReplyDeleteI agree David! When thinking back about SBAs I was thinking how it is staying with the times they are doing a great job. But this is one of the few cases when I think the technology needs to be "behind" because students and teachers need to be comfortable and confident in using the technology they are being evaluated in.
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