Some of you may have already seen
this article that was published earlier this month in the Washington Post. The article discusses a letter written by a
teacher named Dawn Neely-Randall from Elyria, OH, advocating for change of the
way we test our students. This article
hits close to home, as Elyria is my hometown, and I also have a passion for
school social work. Dawn Neely-Randall
makes some excellent points about how these tests are labeling students for how
they perform on a test one day out of year, and parents are only given a score
of how well or poorly their child performed.
Parents and students never have the opportunity to review the test after
it has been scored. Students are not the
only ones who are labeled, however.
Teachers are labeled as well, based on how their students perform on
OAA tests. It is admirable to see
teachers advocating for their students. I think as social workers it is our job
to empower, and help encourage more teachers to do the same, as well as working
to empower and teach students to advocate for their educational rights.
After researching the NCLB Act I can see why an emphasise was placed on standardized testing to make the schools and leaders accountable for the children who were being left behind. I also believe there should be a better way to measure success beside testing. Many children are very capable of successfully completing the primary subjects in school but may possess test anxiety. Test anxiety can cause the student to perform poorly and not represent the true academics capabilities of the student.
ReplyDeleteThis article brings up a great point, can parents even request to see the graded tests? I think the best way to learn is to look at the wrong answers and see the justification. In a country that advertises that we value individuality we seem to be contradicting ourselves w/ the way we evaluate our student's proficiency. We should not be teaching kids to regurgitate information but instead learn, form their own thoughts, and be creative...that's how we grow as a society.
ReplyDeleteThis article brings up several great points. Standardized tests have the potential to be an effective component of a comprehensive evaluation process by providing consistency across districts. However, using a sole measure to entirely define a student or teacher's success is not accurate. In addition, teachers who "teach to the test" have less flexibility to adjust the pace of their class or address curriculum that students are not tested on. From a micro-level perspective, school social workers must provide support for students for whom testing is a challenge while also helping teachers to support students with special needs who are not exempt from statewide testing. At the macro level, school social workers must advocate for the best educational interests of students and educators.
ReplyDelete