Testing professional Rick Stiggins on the lessons to be learned from the recent obsession with standardized testing:
Politicians are so painfully misinformed about sound assessment practices that they do exactly the wrong thing with them. They misunderstand how testing impacts student motivation...
The problem is that not all students respond to the increased pressure in productive ways. High achievers bank their confidence, redouble their efforts and learn more. But perennial low achievers see success as even more unattainable. They give up in hopelessness and learn less. For them, high-stakes tests have exactly the opposite effect.
Average them and what do you get? No change.
But what if we could keep those low performers from giving up? We know how to do just that, not with intimidation-driven tests but with effective confidence-building classroom assessment...The problem is that teachers and administrators have never been given access to those practices because it has not been part of their initial training and there is no money for professional development...
I agree that tests in and of themselves don't increase learning. I also agree entirely with Rick that the way for children to build confidence on high-stakes exams is to have plenty of experience with those "confidence-building" low-stakes classroom assessments that provide plenty of helpful feedback.
However, I believe that the educational community often has such an ingrained suspicion of tests of any kind that even "effective confidence-building classroom assessments" might not be welcomed with open arms. I agree that education is not about once-a-year tests - it's about multiple tests, some which are high-stakes, and some which are for feedback only. But I suspect that many "educators," trained to value "self-esteem" above all, avoid any sort of objective assessment or feedback in the classroom. Until we can get away from the notion that one bad test score (high-stakes or no) will irreparably damage a child's self-esteem, educators will not take advantage of the positive impact that testing can have.
Posted by kswygert at November 30, 2004 03:47 PM