{"id":245,"date":"2015-02-28T13:22:56","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T21:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/?p=245"},"modified":"2015-02-28T15:47:56","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T23:47:56","slug":"unfighting-standardized-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/unfighting-standardized-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"(Un)Fighting Standardized Tests"},"content":{"rendered":"

I teach sixth grade and I find the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) standardized test frustrating. Schools use it in ways I wish we didn\u2019t and we can\u2019t use it in ways we wish we could.\u00a0 <\/span>I didn\u2019t realize how conflicted I really felt until my students bombed the test when I had them take it \u2018just for practice.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Learning<\/a><\/p>\n

I had asked that my students be excused from the second of three yearly rounds of testing. When I made my pitch to my principal, I explained that I can\u2019t really use the MAP to inform my teaching because the information I receive from it is so generalized:\u00a0 <\/span>it doesn\u2019t help me pinpoint what students know and don\u2019t know.\u00a0 <\/span>Also, many of the sixth graders in my class read too much into their score and lose confidence in themselves as mathematicians if it doesn\u2019t rise dramatically.<\/span><\/p>\n

We decided on a compromise:\u00a0 <\/span>Take the test, but tell them it was just for practice.\u00a0 <\/span>Students wouldn\u2019t freak out. And they wouldn\u2019t lose out on a opportunity \u2014 and this is the part of how we use the test that I don\u2019t like \u2014\u00a0 <\/span>to experience how the school would determine their math placement for the coming grade.\u00a0 <\/span>They\u2019d just calmly give it their best. Was I in for a surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I saw their scores, my heart sank.\u00a0 <\/span>They relaxed, too much. Much of the class didn\u2019t do as well as they did when they took the test in fifth grade, in spite of six intervening months of learning. These results were completely out of line with every formal and informal observation I\u2019ve made of their learning so far this year.\u00a0 <\/span>They also don\u2019t match students\u2019 performance in prior years and I have some of the most powerful student growth I\u2019ve ever had this year.\u00a0 <\/span>Also the experience was still toxic, at least for some of them. One student came into class the next day begging to be taught algebra so he could do better next time.\u00a0 <\/span>Another was frustrated that she couldn\u2019t explain her answers.\u00a0 <\/span>She loves that part of how we do math.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>A third\u00a0said it was a waste of time because he didn\u2019t care about the MAP because tests like that aren\u2019t going to determine who he is. <\/span><\/p>\n

To learn more about what happened, I gave my students an anonymous survey.\u00a0 <\/span>Their responses to my questions and our discussion shed light on the results.\u00a0 <\/span>Here is what l learned: \u00a0 <\/span>When they know that a test is tied to an opportunity, like getting into a class, they do their very best. In fact that is what 80 % of them had done in fifth grade when they knew the test would determine their middle school placement. This time, for the practice test, about seventy percent of them reported not working very hard, because, they reasoned, \u201cWhy bother?\u00a0 <\/span>It was just for practice.\u201d This was about the same percentage as those whose scores dropped.\u00a0 <\/span>They also said they wouldn\u2019t ever work that hard if it was just practice. The test taking experience is unpleasant, it takes too long, and no one reads their work anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

My sixth graders taught me that what students understand about how test results are used matters to them.\u00a0 <\/span>They knew that in the 5th grade, their placement in math class would be determined by their score on the MAP and they responded accordingly.\u00a0 <\/span>I, along with many educators, have mixed feelings about this, and wish that students\u2019 opportunities weren’t determined by test scores alone. In fact, as professionals with the best interest of children in mind, we can and do work with families to find the best fit for students. Sometimes, we can advocate successfully for a child who hasn\u2019t scored well. \u00a0 <\/span>In the past I have shared this with students, emphasizing caring adults\u2019 role in advocating for them.\u00a0 <\/span>But in reality those conversations are the exception, not the rule.\u00a0 <\/span>Usually it\u2019s a score that determines a child\u2019s math placement. In their world, the numbers do count. Test results matter to students\u2019 future selves. Many of my students will find that doors open for them when they perform well on standardized tests.\u00a0 <\/span>Others will lose opportunities when they don\u2019t do well.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have gone into test days too wishful for years, and my wishes have skewed the way I present the experience to my students.\u00a0 <\/span>I look at the scores and wish I could learn more about my students from them, and I wish the scores didn\u2019t impact my school and students so much.\u00a0 <\/span>My first wish is silly.\u00a0 <\/span>I already know what I need to know from spending day after day with these young people.\u00a0 <\/span>As for the latter, I suspect my nuanced understanding of human development as far more than a test score has been getting in the way of my students\u2019 performance.\u00a0 <\/span>On test day, I have reassured them that I know how smart they have become through their hard work.\u00a0 <\/span>They believe in my belief in them and probably trust that I will be there if they slip up like I have been before. <\/span><\/p>\n

Next time, instead of reminding them of how much I care about them, I will help them see the doors that open and close based on their scores. I will tell them that doing well means having choices and having more power and agency to determine the next steps in their own lives. I will tell them that I care about their results because I care about them. I will help them see that the tests are the only way that people who don\u2019t have the time to come into our classroom and listen to how amazing they are can find out what they know.\u00a0 <\/span>To the extent that I can, I will help my living-in-the-present eleven year olds see past the people they already know to imagine those they don\u2019t know yet and to have those people, including their future selves, matter.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I teach sixth grade and I find the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) standardized test frustrating. Schools use it in ways I wish we didn\u2019t and we can\u2019t use it in ways we wish we could.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t realize how conflicted I really felt until my students bombed the test when I had them take … Continue reading (Un)Fighting Standardized Tests<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59e30-3X","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions\/249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.base-ten.com\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}