Saturday, November 06, 2004
re: Teaching to the Tests
I love Randi's points, as the education I received from Big Rapids Public Schools put me pretty far behind already when I reached Albion (and was, thus, the source of some of my anger and frustration early in my college career). And I HATED the MEAP, as I feel I am intelligent, but not a good "test taker."
Here is the problem with her criticism: Without standardized tests (think MEAP, but go further to ACT/SAT), our society seems to not be able to objectively evaluate students. My dad, a college professor of Criminal Justice, and I have had this conversation dozens of times: while tests are NOT the best way to judge what students are learning, how do we, then, judge how well the student is doing or even if they understand what they're supposed to be learning? And, while some of us might actually come up with something that's a good replacement, keep in mind that pretty much our entire economy seems to be based, not on how intelligent you actually are, but how intelligent you look on paper. Eliminating something like MEAP may lead down a slippery slope to what would be a huge paradigm shift. Furthermore, it seems our society wants to be able to test the teachers... as the question on everyone's lips seems to be "Is our children learning?"
I'm just saying we HAVE to be prepared with an alternative, if we want to attack something like standardized tests (which I think is a good idea). Here's the good news, my dad recently visited the Canadian Mounted Police Training Center in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Mounties education focuses on group work and situational learning (the students are given a legal scenario and asked to work through what steps they should take resolve the problem), and seem to be evaluated as such, with no formal "testing". This is a great alternative, but it also has flaws: the extroverted student, those who think things through out loud, come across as the leaders because they are the ones who are talking. The introverted students seem to be left behind, because they aren't talking much comparatively. This, as an introvert, is one of my huge problems with group work: extroverted students get higher grades, even if what they're saying isn't intelligent, and the introverted student can't get a word in.
But I digress, even though some kind of situational learning might be the answer for colleges, or even high schools, my point is that it is going to be difficult to evaluate elementary school students without some kind of standard testing (MEAP). I don't see us as being able to give elementary students situations to work through constructively.
So, my panel of intellectuals, how can we go about replacing the MEAP?
Here is the problem with her criticism: Without standardized tests (think MEAP, but go further to ACT/SAT), our society seems to not be able to objectively evaluate students. My dad, a college professor of Criminal Justice, and I have had this conversation dozens of times: while tests are NOT the best way to judge what students are learning, how do we, then, judge how well the student is doing or even if they understand what they're supposed to be learning? And, while some of us might actually come up with something that's a good replacement, keep in mind that pretty much our entire economy seems to be based, not on how intelligent you actually are, but how intelligent you look on paper. Eliminating something like MEAP may lead down a slippery slope to what would be a huge paradigm shift. Furthermore, it seems our society wants to be able to test the teachers... as the question on everyone's lips seems to be "Is our children learning?"
I'm just saying we HAVE to be prepared with an alternative, if we want to attack something like standardized tests (which I think is a good idea). Here's the good news, my dad recently visited the Canadian Mounted Police Training Center in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Mounties education focuses on group work and situational learning (the students are given a legal scenario and asked to work through what steps they should take resolve the problem), and seem to be evaluated as such, with no formal "testing". This is a great alternative, but it also has flaws: the extroverted student, those who think things through out loud, come across as the leaders because they are the ones who are talking. The introverted students seem to be left behind, because they aren't talking much comparatively. This, as an introvert, is one of my huge problems with group work: extroverted students get higher grades, even if what they're saying isn't intelligent, and the introverted student can't get a word in.
But I digress, even though some kind of situational learning might be the answer for colleges, or even high schools, my point is that it is going to be difficult to evaluate elementary school students without some kind of standard testing (MEAP). I don't see us as being able to give elementary students situations to work through constructively.
So, my panel of intellectuals, how can we go about replacing the MEAP?
