[Winona] Thank you Scott

[Joliene Olson]

Thank you Scott for your comments and questions.   When I talk about changing the tests, I am assuming (that's probably what is wrong) that all the talk about what the tests do and don't measure, about how teachers must teach to the tests instead of the curriculum etc means that the tests are flawed.  I truly don't know if they are or are not.  That was one of my questions.  Who knows?   IF the tests are arbitrary, don't measure what we want measured etc then why are they given?  Where does the problem start?  With the tests, with the curriculum, or with what the teacher wants to teach, or with the ill informed opinion of someone who doesn't  really know enough to make such criticisms?   As far as the political side of it, I believe that political comments, rhetoric etc come about because someone finds a weakness somewhere,  has a bias,  doesn't really know the facts, or even want to know the facts, and then starts spouting.  Since none of the rest of us know any different, don't take time to investigate or find the truth, or if what is said fits our own bias, we repeat it.  I saw this happen frequently in the 18 years I was on the school board.    There were (and are) people writing letters to the editor, editorials and making comments to friends, relatives etc about things based only on their bias or partial information or partial truth of the information.  They don't investigate, ask questions or even talk to the people involved.  They simply regurgitate what they have heard, or experienced without learning about the "rest of the story" and 'we' read it and pass it on as truth because it was written or spoken in a newspaper or a forum of some kind.   The only answer to this is to hold people accountable for what they say.  That is hard and time consuming to do.    To go back to you question on changing the tests, I realize they are "standardized".  BUT, someone writes them.  Someone decides the questions or topics tested.   Are the contents of these tests political also?  Any thing can be changed.   That is why I say, lets look at the whole picture.  Lets determine first, what we want measured, then decide if the curriculum teaches it, and if the tests measure it.    The Profiles of Learning were developed on a basic set of outcomes that were decided after a lot of study, discussion etc.  They are good!  No one can really argue the outcomes desired.  Where it all breaks down is in the interpretation of how to implement and document.    This  whole things seems to me to be a matter of coordination of our teaching and our testing.   I know this is long and a lot of you won't read it all the way through.   However, I hope it answers at least some of your questions Scott.   Thank you Joliene Olson 507-454-1236 [EMAIL PROTECTED]