Standards and Testing

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Standards and Testing

• Shannon Otis
• Anthony Finelli
• Emily Krumsiek
• Sara Baker

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Three in a row? No, No, No!! Three answers
b in a row? No, No, No!! -one of several
cheers taught to students at their daily pep
rallies on test-taking for the TAAS test.
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Facts about TAAS tests

• Teachers are told to set aside their normal
  lessons and prep for the TAAS
• Teachers reported that even thought the students
  were passing the reading section of the test,
  that they were not actual readers. They could not
  make connections for assignments and discussion.

• A principles pay (and job contract) and the
  schools reputation depend on test scores.
• Test covers reading skills, writing and math
• Are only multiple choice

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Memory Olympics

• Is standardized testing informative?
• Does it really allow the student to learn?
• Do the tests give students the idea that social
  studies is all about memorization?
• Shouldnt a student be taught the event with the
  facts instead of the facts within the event?

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2000 NYS History Regents

• The supreme Court decisions in the McCulloch v.
  Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden and Wabash v. Illinois
  dealt with.
• Freedom of speech
• Equal protection under the law
• The supremacy of the national government
• The rights of the labor unions

• Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth
  Cady Stanton are most closely associated with the
  idea that.
• Alcohol should be prohibited
• Settlement houses should be built to help educate
  immigrants
• National parks should be created by the federal
  government
• Suffrage should be granted to women

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Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!

• Book is about a school that has curriculum
  different from other schools
• Teachers teach unique subjects, but also
  intertwine the information needed for
  standardized testing
• The teachers teach in a fun way but still inform
  and educate students

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• Students take test and pass because they use the
  information given to them
• The teachers focus on teaching the students not
  testing them like other schools
• The teachers teach them to think

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• Rethinking School Reform
• Opposite of Hooray for Diffendoofer Day
• Teachers teach the way the test will be
• Omitting subjects all together
• Focusing on having the students pass, but not
  having the students learn
• Teachers are not teacher the students to think

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Testing Slights Multiculturalism

• The tests, and the curriculum acrobatics schools
  undertake to adapt to them, literally determine
  whats important to know and whats not. Books,
  methods and coursework that dont support test
  standards are thrown by the wayside.
• I worry about my children in this new world of
  high-stakes testing. How will they remain
  creative or sustain an interest in
• LIFE LONG LEARNING?

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Their report card and ours

• Test-led reform sucks the joy out of learning
  and discourages both teacher and student
  creativity.What is not measured on the tests
  for example, critical thinking, discussion
  skills, the arts is more and more neglected.
• Not everything that matters can be measured,
  and not everything that can be measured matters.
• Real school reform must be democratic, drawing
  on the collective efforts of teachers, students,
  administrators, parents and the broader
  community.

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Their report card and ours continued

• The new measures to develop report cards
  implemented by the Portland area of Oregon
• -- Curriculum
• -- Student assessment
• -- Equity for all students
• -- Health and safety
• -- Parents and community in the life of
  school
• -- District and state support

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Bibliography

• Christensen, Linda. Rethinking School Reform.
  Rethinking Schools Press (August 8, 2003)