I found the article Beyond the Bubble Tests: The Next Generation of Assessments to be interesting and encouraging. When my son, Nick, was in third grade, he was in the first group of third graders that were taking the PSSA tests. He is in 11th grade now, and every year all year, all we hear at school meetings is about the test, how we are doing,what we are doing to prepare. On one hand, the administrators were telling us not to stress our kids out about it, but on the other stressing how important it is. I can't say whether or not to school's attitude will change with Assessment 2.0, but it sounds like progress is being made to assess higher order thinking and writing.
The article mentions different ways of testing, including smart technology, computer adaptive tests and higher order thinking skills which are vital to our future prosperity. This should be good news to Business Education, because we offer a curriculum that helps prepare students for the workforce and college.
I like the idea of more realistic assessment and hope it could work. The examples given seem to relate to the science curricula, which would definitely be a practical application of realistic assessment. We have learned that everyone is different in their learning styles and their best assessment style. That is a concern as well, but using a more skills based assessment could be a truer reading compared to a bubble test.
I think anything is difficult to 'standardize' across the nation, because of bureaucracy and red tape. There needs to be a checks/balance system within the consortium that is developing standards and assessments. This iteration of assessment appears to be taking into account special needs and language barriers, more than PSSA tests do. I think the tests could be reliable but they have to be tested for reliabliilty. Here is an article that discusses reliability and validity. http://www.suite101.com/content/the-importance-of-test-reliability-and-validity-a308864
Pennsylvania has adopted the Common Core Standards - here is a link to an article http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10183/1069766-454.stm . It sounds like the standards address history/social studies, science and technical material - but do not yet define the content that should be covered.
As Business Educators, I think we should keep doing what we have been taught in our courses. Engage the students in the learning process by finding out who they are and what interests them. Use those interests to teach them critical thinking and writing skills. If Prezi is fun, give them an assignment to research and present using Prezi. It is a way to disguise the learning that is taking place by making it fun. We are already teaching students the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century.
How interesting Patty that you have had the opportunity to be involved with your son through the progression of the PSSA testing. Do you believe teachers are teaching to the test as I hear so many say?
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments on the more realistic nature of this Assessment 2.0 and the practicle application of knowledge. I have heard stories of kids just making designs when filling in the bubbles on the test score sheet!
I think you made a great point about business education and how our standards are designed to prepare students for either the workforce or college. I believe as busiess educators we need to keep emphasizing our role in the education and preparation of students.
I would like to hear more about your personal experience with the testing since you are more aware of what is happening because of your son. Are teachers correctly teaching the students for the test? And if so are the students actually learning the material?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about your comments about business education. Which is partially the reason why I wanted to be a business education teacher. My business classes in high school were fun 1. becasue I enjoyed the information being taught but also 2. because it was presented in a way that allowed students to engage in exciting and active learning. As business educators we can take the growing interest in technology and present important information for students in a fun and exciting way!
They definitely teach to the test. That is not to say the teachers only teach to the test. They just have less flexibility in what they do, plus they use a lot of materials to prepare the students for the tests. When I did my middle school observation, they had PSSA workbooks for math, and every day, all year they completed a page.
ReplyDeleteGood dialogue!
ReplyDelete@Patty - Thank you for sharing the links! Making them an active hyperlink would allow the reader to easily click on the link to access the additional information.
I updated the links...hopefully they work now.
ReplyDelete