After watching the video "Good school/Bad school" in class this morning it really got me thinking more about how we measure the success of particular schools. The video opened the thought that perhaps a school can be functioning above average but could be testing poorly. The question is, which way should we measure how well schools are actually doing?
Personally, I really enjoyed watching the story of this elementary school in New York City. The school's test scores show it to be below average, especially in the reading department for students. However, after going in and somewhat "investigating" the school in person it was easy to see that the school really seems to be actually thriving. Both teachers and students are enthusiastic and eager to learn. Unfortunately, this joy seems to 'die down' once testing is implemented. After the fourth grade students may be seen having a harder time getting good grades and wanting to learn more. Perhaps this is because the social factors uprising in their lives or maybe it's just the effects of testing students. Bottom line is, these student which seem to be on the right track hit testing and spin off. As Professor Glassman discussed in class, we all hate doing things we don't think we're good at. So, if students are working really hard to become better and then they take the test and for some reason (there are thousands) they don't do good enough, they no longer want to work towards improving. It literally squeezes the fun and the joy out of their schooling. After this is done it becomes almost impossible to instill that joy back.
I found a great article titled, "Testing the Joy out of Learning" (http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar08/vol65/num06/Testing-the-Joy-Out-of-Learning.aspx) which talks about exactly what I mentioned above. Students who are continuously being tested have a much more difficult time enjoying learning and all the great things it has to offer. We have to stop expecting that students need to take these tests and score well in order to be able to successful in their education.
From personal experience, I completely agree with the idea that we all hate doing things that we aren't good at. The Spanish language and I do not get along very well; consequently, I did not try as hard as I could have in my Spanish classes because I simply thought I would never be able to figure out what was going on. I feel that if I wasn't so harshly tested on the details, I would have picked up and retained more of the bigger concepts of the language. Instead, I spent all my time trying to figure out which little idea would be on the test, memorizing that concept, taking the test, and then promptly forgetting it the next class period. Testing took all the fun out of the class and the language.
ReplyDeleteI also am guilty of not doing things I don't think I am good at which is science. It isn't just that I am not competent in that subject matter, but I also don't enjoy it. I have recently heard on the news that children as young as three and four years old are being repeatedly tested and how parents have boycotted by not sending their children to school. I think that testing children so young like that is absolutely ridiculous. Kids should be able to enjoy themselves before they enter kindergarten at five or six years old. In my opinion children should not be told their scores and neither should their parents. Instead teachers or administration should just give parents advice on how they can help their child or children improve their reading skills.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa,
ReplyDeleteI too, really enjoyed your use of Dr. Glassman's example. I had never really thought of the education of very young children in that light, as it seems so vital and broad at that age, but in reality it is just the same as the struggles with foreign languages or dancing that people experience. I am a very shy person and I find it hard to try again if I really crash and burn. Putting that perspective on the face of a young child testing totally brings it to new light.
Thank you for sharing.
Alyssa Beltz
Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteI really like your blog post and I agree with many of the other people who have commented on it. I think this is such a difficult situation because it is hard to not judge a school by test scores. So many people think well this school has awful test scores so it has to be a bad school when really this might not be the case at all. The school, like the one we saw in the video could be thriving and the kids are really trying but when it comes to tests the answers just don't show it. I guess it all comes down to how is the government or the educational board going to determine if a school is doing well if they don't look at test scores? They could go to all the schools and investigate themselves how it seems like children are doing but this could take a very long time and they would struggle to continue to do this year in and year out.
I agree with not doing things that I am not good at. I am a terrible reader and after some of my test scores showed that every time I got a bad test score I would blame it on not being a good reader. If those test never made me think I was a bad reader, I would have never been so disappointed and I would have tried more. I think they need to look at test and think if it is really benefiting the students.
ReplyDelete