Okay. . . it's Spring Break and have some time to jump back in the mix. This topic (and the direction it is moving in) seems appropriate. Let me apologize in advance for being long-winded.
The BSTs. There are a couple of things that I think are important to remember about these tests. First, the tests are designed to assess the BASIC level of skill in the areas of reading, math and writing. It is for this reason that I have always taken the scores with a grain of salt. As a high school teacher in a Pre-IB/IB program, I am not familiar with how students are prepared for the reading and the math tests. However, the 10th grade writing test does get quite a bit of attention in both the 9th and 10th grades and in both English and Social Studies. Unfortunately, the writing test does not really assess how well a student can write academically but rather whether they understand and can use the formulaic structure of the five-paragraph essay.
Second, the BSTs are, in the near future, going to be phased out and the MCAs (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments) will be used instead. In fact, in the building I teach, our staff is already learning about the MCA testing strands and how to support those strands. We even have a U professor working with our staff about how to teach "tests as a genre."
Which brings me to the idea of "teaching to the test." I agree with Mr. Tester here, in that if the test appropriately and effectively assess the skills of the students, there is nothing wrong with teaching to the test. The challenge is to have a good test to teach to and in my opinion, the BSTs are not this. Strictly multiple-choice tests (again in my opinion) are not effective assessments of student's skills, particularly higher-order thinking skills. Additionally, such tests do nothing to reveal how capable a student is in communicating their thought processes, support their answers or even question the questions/prompts of the test. Check out IB exams to find some exams that do just that. The question then becomes if the test is not worth teaching to, why have the test in the first place?
This brings us to NCLB. And, any educator worth their hours of preparation, grading and professional development agrees with the principle of NCLB. I do not take issue with that at all. My issue with this law is how is it coming to be enforced and the shocking holes of logic in the law. States choose the assessments used to evaluate students, schools and districts according to the expectations of the law. By allowing states to choose rather than national assessment, there is no consistency in expectation nor achievement. The systems/formulas in place to determine whether or not a school or a district is meeting adequate yearly progress mean that the more diversity within the school/district, the more challenging it will be to meet adequate yearly progress (and are compared to less diverse schools/districts). I could go on and on.
Finally, the issue of funding. I am so tired of hearing that education is a black hole when it comes to money. St Paul hasn't had it as bad as Mpls has over the last several years and for this, I hope the SPPS are grateful. But education statewide and yes, particularly St Paul and Mpls, need additional funding. The funding over the last few years has not even increased at the rate of inflation. I cannot speak for any St Paul schools, but my school is considering using our vending machine dollars to pay over our school police officers. Security is certainly going to be an issue and we, as a district, are contemplating increasing class size by 4. A colleague of mine, a chemistry teacher, had one class of 38 students. Next year, he could be near 45. How is this an appropriate and SAFE learning environment? And this is but one area where the cuts are this deep. We aren't cutting to the bone anymore. We are hacking off limbs.
I am all for fiscal responsibility - ask my family members - but at some point, you have to ask how far are we willing to go with the cuts and what does that say about our priorities when it comes to children?
Alright. . . I'm done. And, I'm looking forward to doing a bit than just lurking for the next week or so. Hope everyone gets outside to enjoy the sun and warmth.
Brionna Harder Ward One
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