The Rookery: Time for Testing

This week we will take time out of our curriculum to prepare and take the reading MCAs or Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments. ?We make every effort to help students feel comfortable when taking a standardized test. ?We also make every effot to keep the test in what we feel is a proper perspective.

First, the perparation. ?We teach students four elements of successful standardized test taking:

1. Be familiar with the test. ?For this reason, we do a practice test and talk about how the test is structured. ?We also talk about test elements such as numbered paragraphs that may be unfamiliar for students.
2. Have fun. ?When we smile and relax, our brains are able to access information more efficiently. ?We try to insert some levity into the testing by having gorp and taking stretch breaks. ?Even forcing a smile helps to relax us.
3. Be interested. ?We teach students to stay engaged as they test. ?Test takers do a lot better when they are "responding with wonder" instead of just trying to get done. ?Being interested helps you anticipate questions and sythesize information. ?We encourage students to treat the tests like a puzzle, something that can be figured out. ?This helps them move beyond the black and white "I don't know this." ?Developmentally, this age group still tends to see things as absolute -- you know it or you don't -- they must be taught explicitly that piecing things together like a puzzle is not cheating and is, in fact, good strategy.
4. Check your answers. ?We want kids not just to ensure they have answered a question but that they double checked their thinking. ?Don't worry, we caution against over thinking, too.

Now, the proper perspective. ?A disclaimer: ?I am now speaking only for myself as an educator -- but I feel it is important that as many people as possible in our community are having discussions about testing and assessments and what role we want standardized tests to play in our children's education.

1. An imperfect measure. ?I've alluded to this before but the Minnesota "Comprehensive" Assessment is anything but. ?I always tell the students that the state has them take the MCAs to ensure that every child is in a school that is educating them -- it's a good and nobel impulse. ?However, I also make sure we talk about everything they know how to do that is not?covered by this assessment -- asking questions, debating, finding resources, being curious, being creative, leading groups, seeing a large project through, teaching others, expressing oneself, providing service. ?I know that in an ideal world, the state would love to send an observation team to the school to see each child's strengths and talents and help determine their next steps for instruction. ?We do not live in an ideal world.
2. An increasingly instrusive measure. ?In a huge change from just two years ago, there is now tremendous pressure from the state for us to administer the MCAs using computers. ?While this sounds like an innocuous request, it has a huge impact on our school. ?First, in order to administer the test efficiently we would need to roughly triple the number of computers we have. ?We have not identified a need for that many computers for our regular curriclum work which means that we would be allocating a large portion of our budget toward something that the teachers and board have not found a child-centered need for. ?If we decide not to triple the number of computers (and expand our server) we would have to schedule three times as many testing days. ?This would mean that all multi-age and cross class activities (such as much of our math instruction) would end during testing time. ?In addition, students who take the math test on line are able to take it three times -- so any child who did not meet proficiency the first time would take it two additional times in the testing window. ?While that sounds great, it is suspect pedagologically since any shift in scores would be because of short term cramming for the test, not a deepening of the child's actual math understanding. ?That child would miss curriculum that the rest of his or her class was exploring -- or the class could be put in a "holding pattern" until all students who needed to had taken the test three times.
3. An invalid measure. ?So, you might be thinking, "Wait a second, if some kids are allowed to take the test three times but Prairie Creek kids won't be because we're taking pencil and paper tests will Prairie Creek's scores still be compared to other schools who are using the best of three testing sessions for their data?" ?Yes, our scores will be treated exactly the same as those districts who are administering the test three times. ?Additionally, we've just found out that children who take the math test on line have a "text to speech" feature that enables them to listen to each question. ?We are not allowed to read test items to students so they will not be taking the same test as those students who can have the computer read them the test. ?This huge testing difference will not be considered when our students' tests are scored and reported.

Because of the public nature of MCA score reporting, I fear that much of our school's autonomy will be lost in the pressure to meet or exceed the scores of other schools. ?The argument against such conformity is too complex for the sound bites media limits us to. ?(For example, this excellent piece in the New York Times tries to explain the issues with "value added" measures and even with my familiarity with the topic I had to read it twice.) ?Faced with the need to not appear "under performing" we would need to administer the tests in the same way as the schools we are being compared to. ?So, instead of "honors project season", there is every chance we would find ourselves in "MCA season" with testing spreading over 6 weeks instead of the current 6 days.

This is a very complex topic with many legitamate view points. ?I am aware that by even bringing it up, I can sound defensive. ?But if we don't think about it and talk about it and ask questions about it, we run the risk of losing sight of what we consider to be "high achievement." ?At Prairie Creek, I think "achievement" means a lot more than being able to choose the best of four possible answers -- it means being able to find answers and create solutions for oneself. ?I so desperately wish?our standardized assessments and the public debate were focused on that.

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