[Winona Online Democracy]
On Sunday, November 18, 2001, at 09:38 , Leslie Hittner wrote:
> Dan,
>
> Before this goes too far, let me make a few points clear regarding my
> position.
> I am not advocating throwing out standardized tests. They do have a
> place.
> They cannot, however, be the SOLE assessment tool.
Perhaps Standardized Tests do have a place. I am however, reluctant to
accept this, but maybe if you expanded upon it, I could agree with it.
As for using them as the sole assessment tool, I agree and nonetheless
have to wonder why anyone would want to put stock into only one tool. It
doesn't make sense. Also, I am curious as to why we are so obsessed with
knowing exactly how as a whole our students are doing.
> Believe it or not, the right answer IS important. There are times in
> life when "knowing the process" is not adequate, if one cannot
> "implement the process correctly."
Yes the correct answer is important, it never was my intention to say it
is not. It however was my intent to illustrate that a student can get
the correct answer and not have a clue of what they did. It is pointless
to have an answer if you do not know how it was arrived upon. What
benefit comes of it? Having the correct answer but not knowing how it
was arrived upon is just as bad (if not worse) as having the incorrect
answer and not knowing why it is wrong.
> There are no second chances in many aspects of "real" life. The
> Internet, the spell checker, and the calculator are not always
> available. Having said that, it is also true that real understanding
> must be valued and creativity and originality must be honored. Simply
> put, we are not dealing with an "either or" issue. Indeed, it is much
> more complex than that.
Exactly! But under Standardized Testing (or as I prefer, Standardized
Education), there is little if any time left for creativity ("we have to
prepare for the test, maybe later") It puzzles me why alarm bells are
not going off in every household which contains school aged children. We
all want our children to walk away from school being able to think for
themselves and use proper judgment among other things. However, the
current direction which Education reform is heading is not conducive
towards producing this type of student.
> -Leslie Hittner
>
> One education reform researcher (I forget who) said something to this
> affect:
> Nearly Everyone wants our public school system to work better.
> Hardly No one wants our public school system to change.
>
> Hmmmmm...
People like to talk about change and the future, but when it comes to
implementing it, that's different. The fear of the unknown is very
powerful.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Dittmann: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
How often do you say to yourself, "I didn't do it; so of course, it
didn't get done?"
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