Re: [Winona] Testing--today and yesterday

[Laurie Lucas]

Hi Joliene, You sure made some good points and asked some good questions.  Tests aren't bad if they're used to help the teacher and students along a course of study and comprehension.  Unfortunately, they seem to pigeonhole and label our kids, as well as measure Minnesota's educational prowess, and leave little or no room for learning.   Another question could be:  Do we care to ensure that all children learn and work up to their potential?  If so, what would a standardized test tell us?  Would it help us?  Probably not.   Next question would be:  Do we have the resources at hand to ensure all kids a quality education?  If not, and we still agree that we have to educate all kids, what do we need to do to gather the needed resources, both capital and human?   I think it comes down to a moral dilemma about who gets the good education and who doesn't. Laurie Lucas - community person ----- Original Message ----- From: Joliene Olson To: onlinedemocracy Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 12:23 PM Subject: [Winona] Testing--today and yesterday In this morning's Daily news, there was an article (Pg 8A) headed Teachers say tests might interfere.  It goes on to say, " that 83% of the responding public school teachers said they fear they will end up teaching to tests."   Here is my question.  If the TESTS ask questions that demonstrate mastery of concepts, facts we should know or demonstration of skills we want our kids to be able to have,  why wouldn't we want to TEACH to the tests?  Were the test made up in a vacuum?  What are the tests based on?   I know, maybe the question is to simple.  I realize that NOT being an educator, who has seen the make up of the tests nor compared them to the curriculum being taught, I may not understand well.  However,  I get the feeling that once again, we are just passing around  what we have heard (rhetoric and/or catch all phrases) rather than describing an actual problem.   I agree with Paul Olberding and his illustrations are good.  My point is, why don't we make sure the tests that are given are actually measuring what we want them to measure?  What they measure should be the curriculum we have adopted to give us the information, skills etc that we want our kids to have?   Now, if there are commonly accepted levels of curriculum that are used for the various levels of ability of our students, wouldn't it seem logical to test a student on the level of curriculum they are taught.  If all students are  expected to learn from the SAME curriculum are they expected to learn to the same level?  If not, couldn't that be dealt with through testing also?   I will admit that I may be off base and over simplifying a difficult issue but I haven't heard anyone say whether or not the tests actually reflect what we want taught and if they do what is the problem with testing?  If they don't, change the tests!   Joliene Olson 507-454-1236 [EMAIL PROTECTED]