The Kalamazoo Gazette has good advice for parents:
* Look at the scores in context with the child's grades, especially if they are inconsistent. A child who tests well but has mediocre grades may be bored in class and need more academic challenge. A child who has strong grades but poor test results may suffer from test anxiety. "In each case, you need to ask about what's going on," said Standish.* Look at the scores in context with the child's progress in previous years. Parents need to raise concerns if a child's scores are significantly different than previous years.
* Understand that bombing one round of assessment tests may simply indicate that the child was having a bad day. It's much more significant if several different tests during the school year reflect similar results...
* Know the differences between the tests. Michigan school districts specifically align their curriculum to the MEAP..."It's very fair to ask questions of the principal or teacher" about how the curriculum lines up with the test, Clay said.
I'd substitute "essential" for "very fair" in that last sentence, but otherwise I agree.
Posted by kswygert at June 13, 2005 03:09 PM