As we begin to prepare across the state for “Test Week”, it seems appropriate to remind folks just how extensive the testing climate has become over the years.
But before I do, I’m reminded constantly of what Jonathan Kozol, a nationally recognized advocate and educator of inner-city poverty-ridden classrooms, has said about testing. He states, “We don’t fatten the sheep by testing them.” Every time I think of that, I feel sympathy for school systems that seem to be testing more than teaching these days. And I can appreciate that sentiment, given what seems to be a constant schedule of testing. But, it also ignores a particular kind of testing that doesn’t fit that mold, a kind of testing for learning, which seems both productive and necessary if we are to educate each child.
If test scores are simply logged somewhere and put on a shelf, only to be considered when a school is to be labeled successful or failing, then they are counter-productive. However, what has become more prevalent is testing for learning. WESTEST-2 (West Virginia Educational Standards Test, 2nd Edition) scores will be scrutinized carefully to see what it says about how well our students are learning the concepts and skills necessary to succeed in the 21st Century. We will make instructional changes based on those tests, even though they don’t give us much information until the end of the school year.
What is more helpful is benchmark testing and other formative assessments that happen frequently throughout the school year to see if students have learned the particular standards that have been taught. For those who have learned, they continue. For those who haven’t learned the
standard, providing remediation at that moment is the most helpful strategy. It is this kind of testing that seems more of a medical model than what we generally think of in education. In medicine and in research, the testing is to determine whether or not the subject’s health has improved. In our case, we’re checking for understanding or learning and making changes based upon the information we get from the testing. If no changes are made in instruction based upon that testing, then Kozol is absolutely right and it’s a waste of time for schools. We diagnose, prescribe, and implement treatment in an effort to make sure each child succeeds.
Like every state in the nation, West Virginia administers its own standardized test program. Students in grades 3- 11 will participate in this particular testing cycle the third week in May. This year we will have an up-dated version of these tests that will increase the rigor (difficulty) of these tests. WESTEST-2 is being designed to reflect a more rigorous curriculum and a change in the way the students are being taught and assessed. These tests are high stakes because they determine a school’s status by the West Virginia Office of Education Performance Audits.
In addition to making sure that we test every child, we must also meet a level of mastery that will determine if we meet AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) on these tests. The score remains a mystery to us as we go into the testing program. Once the results are back, a mathematical formula will be applied to the results to determine how many of the schools in our state did not meet AYP, and how many school districts will find themselves on the “Needs Improvement” list, triggering a number of consequences.
We are more concerned that we teach each child so that he/she will demonstrate academic growth each year using the benchmark testing so we can determine what skills and objectives we need to reinforce for each child throughout the year. We want to see continuous improvement in the achievement of each student and in the rating of each school. It only stands to reason that if each child grows academically, then the school’s scores will increase as well. The key to successful academic growth is to teach for learning and use the appropriate assessments to determine the specific academic needs that each student has and which specific strategies should be utilized to maximize that student’s chance for success.
The late Senator Paul Wellstone once said, “Making students accountable for test scores works well on a bumper sticker and it allows many politicians to look good by saying that they will not tolerate failure. But it represents a hollow promise. Far from improving education, high-stakes testing marks a major retreat from fairness, from accuracy, from quality, and from equity.”
But, these are the cards we’re dealt and we have to play to win. Keep your fingers crossed for us. And, as always, thank you for all you do for the boys and girls of Mineral County as we continue our journey toward continuous improvement.
