Eclectic Technology

What will the new assessment tests look like when we move to testing on computers? Christopher Lehman explores this issues, noting that "there are loads of questions swirling around the development of these tests. My aim in this post is specifically to make sure you are aware of what is ahead, and more importantly, to suggest that you help your school keep an eye on what matters most — your students’ learning."

He provides a look at what "technology-enhanced" items may look like on the new tests, including a link to a site where you may intereact  with the test items. (Link to this site is http://pages.uoregon.edu/kscalise/taxonomy/taxonomy.html)

There are also links to addtional computer-based assessments.

After sharing this information Lehman asks us to consider an essential point - "our students' learning" and sharing some of the issues that computer-based testing may raise. This article provides much food for thought. 

"It’s that time again, time to cram and review for the SAT Subject Tests. I teach at a college prep school. Many of the more selective colleges and several state universities require students to submit subject test scores as a part of the college application. Therefore, we have to have our students ready for these content focused tests...

Every state requires high school students to take a US History survey course. Given the shortness of the school year and the increasing body of US History (every year we add another year of events, people and topics) we have to make choices. Not so for the makers of the SAT Subject Test. Every event, every President, every person of note is of equal importance and equally likely to show up on the examination..."

“Value-added Models (VAM) of accountability are now the rage. And it is understandable why this is so. They involve predictions about “appropriate” student gains of performance. If results – almost always measured via state standardized test scores – fall within or above the “expected” gains, then you are a “good” school or teacher. If the gains fall below the expected gains that you are a “bad” school or teacher."
Yet there are also many questions about the way VAM is being implemented. Grant Wiggins explains why Value Added Models are good in theory and also discusses many of the issues around the implementation of VAM (and includes many references).

Almost 40 years of data from the University of Bristol shows that reforms designed to boost student achievement are having the opposite effect.

Read on to learn why so many education reformers are enamored with Finnish education and what their system can teach us about reforming our own.

Why are people looking at Finland? Their students have "consistently scored near or at the top of international assessments regardless of economic or social background, despite spending fewer hours in school that their American counterparts."

Some of the 15 points listed are below, and each point is followed with additional information.

* Schools don't assign much homework.

* Classwork focuses on creativity.

* All schools in Finland are public schools.

* Finland is all about cooperation in education, not competition.

"University of Oregon professor Yong Zhao's 2009 book 'Catching Up or Leading the Way' sent a jolt through our educational system. He questioned the use of tests and 'accountability' from the unique perspective of someone educated in China, now living - and raising children - in the USA."

In this interview Yong Zhao answers the following questions:

"Where do you see the push for Common Core standards coming from?"

"What will be different five years from now if the current plans go foward?"

"Some argue that without a single high bar, we will continue to leave poor and minority students behind. How would you respond?"

"Leaders of the Common Core have emphasized the importance of students understanding and responding to non-fiction, shifting awy from the personal response, even going so far as to say 'In college and careers, no one cares how you feel.' Do you think this will be helpful?"

"How should we pursue excellence in the absence of national standards?"

Back in January 2012 this article was posted suggesting that "if our 'standards' in education are to have any meaning at all, they must be standards for policy makers as well."  Rick Roach, who is on the Orange County (Florida) School Board took the state FCAT (10th grade exam) and states: "I won’t beat around the bush. The math section had 60 questions. I knew the answers to none of them, but managed to guess ten out of the 60 correctly. On the reading test, I got 62%. In our system, that’s a ‘D,’ and would get me a mandatory assignment to a double block of reading instruction… It seems to me something is seriously wrong. I have a Bachelor of Science degree, two masters degrees, and 15 credit hours toward a doctorate...” Many other resources are available in this post.

For additional information and comments from Scott McLeod, who took on the challenge, taking the ACT. Check out his post "Taking the ACT a Quarter Century After High School" at 

http://bigthink.com/ideas/taking-the-act-a-quarter-century-after-high-school ;

"A comprehensive report in late March by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution provides strong evidence that adults in as many as 200 school systems have been cheating on their students’ standardized tests...But a teacher I correspond with occasionally brought me up short recently. My focus on actual, literal cheating — physically changing answers or giving kids answers in advance — is too narrow, this teacher wrote."

Teachers want less emphasis on testing and more on mastering skills and high-level concepts.