A question about (the change in) testing
AUGUST 13, 2013 AM31 11:19 AM
The frequency of tests in schools probably hasn’t changed much in the last few generations… but the type of tests, their nature, duration, consequences… those have changed.
“Was your education harmed by the lack of today’s testing program?”
When I was a kid a few decades ago, we took classroom tests at about the same rate (I think) as kids take them today. We also took bubble-in standardized tests after year or two during elementary school. Iowa. Lorge-Thorndike. There was no preparation. We generally did not see the results. In my state, at that time, there were no standardized high school exams. New York had regents, which some, but not all, kids took.
Today there are annual tests in English and math, grades 3 – 8, and a pile of Regents exams, minimum of five required. Students see the results of their exams, and in some cases important decisions are based on those results. (middle schools look at them, high schools look at them,