1 / 18

Standardized testing

Standardized testing. The MEAP. Statewide testing program Started in 1969-70 Tests against state standards in core areas Language arts (reading, writing) Science Math Social studies. MEAP results. Percent of student meeting standards By school Districtwide

eros
Télécharger la présentation

Standardized testing

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Standardized testing

  2. The MEAP • Statewide testing program • Started in 1969-70 • Tests against state standards in core areas • Language arts (reading, writing) • Science • Math • Social studies

  3. MEAP results • Percent of student meeting standards • By school • Districtwide • Breakouts by race, gender, income • Percentile ranking of districts

  4. What MEAP can show • Progress over time • Problem areas over time • Disparities • Race • Gender • Income

  5. Misusing MEAP • Comparisons among districts • Comparisons among schools within a district • Marketing tool in hunt for enrollment • Over-focus on core subjects • Teaching to the test

  6. Some headlines • ‘MEAP scores improve’ -- Milford Times • ‘Public Schools Beat Charters on MEAP’ -- Lansing State Journal

  7. Quotes from stories • ‘Most (charter) schools are out-performing their public school district peers.’ -- Jim Goenner, CMU, quoted in RedOrbit. • ‘Student MEAP performance is in the top 2 percent of the state’s districts while only 28th in per-student spending.’ -- Local school official in Midland Daily News.

  8. Michigan Merit Exam • Replaced high school MEAP in 2007 • Three tests in three days • Free ACT college entrance exam • Free job readiness assessment • Core area assessments • Math • Reading • Writing • Science • Social studies

  9. What’s at stake? • $4,000 Michigan Promise scholarship • School and district ‘report cards’ • AYP compliance with NCLB • AYP is adequate yearly progress • NCLB is No Child Left Behind Act

  10. How is it used? • To tell parents how kids are doing • To help teachers do a better job • Questionably: • To compare schools within a district • To compare districts

  11. Experience so far • Failure to meet standards • More than half in math and writing • 40 percent in reading and science • Most met standards in social studies • Test based on new curriculum

  12. Testing, pro and con • Pro: • You can only understand what you can measure -- Lord Kelvin • Michigan guarantees students a free public education. • Money is only the input -- the output needs to be measured as well

  13. Testing, pro and con • Con: • Based on James W. Popham, education professor at UCLA for 30 years. • ‘The Truth About Testing: An Educator’s Call to Action”

  14. The Problem With Tests • They’re good at helping teachers teach • They’re good at helping parents help their kids • But they’re a poor measure of overall quality of schooling

  15. Why? • 1) What is taught is not necessarily what is tested • A lot of content is taught • It’s impossible to test for all of it • Choices are made • They don’t always match the practice in individual schools or classrooms

  16. Another reason • 2) Important content is often eliminated • Important content tends to be taught well • Too many students learn it to produce a good ‘score spread’ on the test • ‘Score spread’ is an important measure of the statistical reliability of the test

  17. Most important reason • Results muddied by what children bring to the classroom • Inherited aptitude • Questions that test for aptitude are great for score spread • Socioeconomic status • Questions that test for aptitude characterize the community, not the school or teachers.

  18. Bottom line (Popham) • Standardized tests are valuable • When used to ‘illuminate instruction.’ • They are open to misuse with harmful consequences for students • When they are used to make judgments about overall educational quality.

More Related