Standardized Tests: Silly Incentives or Serious Instruction?
In today's guest post, Cindy Mershon, reading specialist and literacy consultant, asks us to keep the child at the center of our thinking about standardized tests. What is our responsibiity as teachers when kids face the high stakes testing? Cindy's answer includes considering standardized testing as a genre to be taught.
by Cindy Mershon
“Educators are faced with a dilemma: our knowledge of reading processes and reading instruction is at odds with our assessment instruments. As a result, we run the risk of misinterpreting assessment data. If tests do not assess what we define as skilled reading, then they cannot adequately determine progress toward that goal. Thus, if we equate high scores on existing tests with good reading we may be led to a false sense of security. Conversely, low scores may lead us to believe that students are not reading well when, by a more valid set of criteria, they are. Furthermore, tests have a powerful impact on curriculum and instruction; they influence classroom practice. In short, tests may be insensitive to growth in the abilities we most want to foster and may be misguiding instruction.”
Valencia, S.W., Pearson, P.D., Peters, C.W., Wixson, K.K. (1989). Theory and practice in statewide reading assessment: Closing the gap. Educational Leadership, April, pp. 57-62.
It is my fault that I chose to read the local paper on Tuesday morning. It is my fault that, when I spied this headline – “Schools Cancel Test Incentives” – I remained in my chair in the kitchen, cocker spaniels in attendance, read the headline, felt the migraine button in my head switch to “on,”, and kept reading.
Seems a local school district had planned “to offer incentives, including $5 gift cards, intended to boost student participation and performance on the standardized PARCC exams.” This district had used such incentives in the past, but had recently decided to cancel their plan due to increased Russ on Reading: Standardized Tests: Silly Incentives or Serious Instruction?: