http://www.kindergartenreadinghelp.com/teachers-i-am-a-parent-and-my-school-district-wants-to-implement-these-changes-in-testing/ Tips and educational products that help Tue, 16 Nov 2010 03:10:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 http://www.kindergartenreadinghelp.com/teachers-i-am-a-parent-and-my-school-district-wants-to-implement-these-changes-in-testing/comment-page-1/#comment-4325 Melissa P Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:56:07 +0000 http://www.kindergartenreadinghelp.com/teachers-i-am-a-parent-and-my-school-district-wants-to-implement-these-changes-in-testing/#comment-4325 a lot of those changes really sound good...i'm a teacher, and not a fan of the tests your district is getting rid of. so kudos to them for that! the one thing i'm really not a fan of though is the requirement to take the ACT in 11th grade. this is not a high school test...it's a college test. the scores are to be used for colelge entrance, not graduation from high school. not only that, but no one has ever been required to take it! it's an optional test! to ease your mind, the students will still have to prove their competencies...just not in the way most parents are used to seeing it. there is still classwork, and there are still projects that will need to be completed. tests are a small part of assessment. also, tests do not tell the whole story of what a student knows if the child is a more linguistic learner. i really like you district's upcoming policy of not making the students prove their reading competency after they've scored at or above grade level 3 times. that is wonderful, and a great use of district resources! i don't know about yours, but my district has a few reading specialists to go around...we have 200 schools in the district, so resources are wearing very thin. if they have to constantly assess students who are consistently reading above grade level, it is a waste of the specialists time, and a waste of the students time when she could be paying attention in class, not taking an assessment that the entire school knows she's going to ace! i'm not familiar with explore, plan, or naep, so i can't really give an opinion there. but i like a lot of the other changes i'm seeing for your district, so i can only imagine they have the students' best interest in mind. and as for homework...i'm glad your school doesn't have any! the problems i have seen with students trying to get their homework home in the first place is ridiculous...then they have to get it done! there is no reason a 3rd grader has 4-5 hours of homework each night! that 4-5 large books that need to be carried home. it is causing back problems just getting back and forth to school. our entire country is overweight, and i believe part of it is because students come home from a sc hool where there wasnt' enough funding for a gym teacher, and they sit to do their 5 hours worth of homework. 3 hours into it, it's time for dinner. they finish eating by 6:30, and still has 2 more hours of homework to ccomplete. there is no time left in the day to play outside and get any kind of excercize because it's either too dark, too dangerous by that time of night, or the kid has just sat for 6 hours straight staring at books that he just doesn't want to do anything at that point but pass out. i'm glad that schools are starting to stand up for children, their rights, their health, and their well-being. maybe more should tkae a lesson from your schools. a lot of those changes really sound good…i’m a teacher, and not a fan of the tests your district is getting rid of. so kudos to them for that! the one thing i’m really not a fan of though is the requirement to take the ACT in 11th grade. this is not a high school test…it’s a college test. the scores are to be used for colelge entrance, not graduation from high school. not only that, but no one has ever been required to take it! it’s an optional test!
to ease your mind, the students will still have to prove their competencies…just not in the way most parents are used to seeing it. there is still classwork, and there are still projects that will need to be completed. tests are a small part of assessment. also, tests do not tell the whole story of what a student knows if the child is a more linguistic learner.
i really like you district’s upcoming policy of not making the students prove their reading competency after they’ve scored at or above grade level 3 times. that is wonderful, and a great use of district resources! i don’t know about yours, but my district has a few reading specialists to go around…we have 200 schools in the district, so resources are wearing very thin. if they have to constantly assess students who are consistently reading above grade level, it is a waste of the specialists time, and a waste of the students time when she could be paying attention in class, not taking an assessment that the entire school knows she’s going to ace!
i’m not familiar with explore, plan, or naep, so i can’t really give an opinion there. but i like a lot of the other changes i’m seeing for your district, so i can only imagine they have the students’ best interest in mind.
and as for homework…i’m glad your school doesn’t have any! the problems i have seen with students trying to get their homework home in the first place is ridiculous…then they have to get it done! there is no reason a 3rd grader has 4-5 hours of homework each night! that 4-5 large books that need to be carried home. it is causing back problems just getting back and forth to school. our entire country is overweight, and i believe part of it is because students come home from a sc hool where there wasnt’ enough funding for a gym teacher, and they sit to do their 5 hours worth of homework. 3 hours into it, it’s time for dinner. they finish eating by 6:30, and still has 2 more hours of homework to ccomplete. there is no time left in the day to play outside and get any kind of excercize because it’s either too dark, too dangerous by that time of night, or the kid has just sat for 6 hours straight staring at books that he just doesn’t want to do anything at that point but pass out. i’m glad that schools are starting to stand up for children, their rights, their health, and their well-being. maybe more should tkae a lesson from your schools.

]]> http://www.kindergartenreadinghelp.com/teachers-i-am-a-parent-and-my-school-district-wants-to-implement-these-changes-in-testing/comment-page-1/#comment-4324 Open Admin Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:59:49 +0000 http://www.kindergartenreadinghelp.com/teachers-i-am-a-parent-and-my-school-district-wants-to-implement-these-changes-in-testing/#comment-4324 Honestly, their changes seem to be more meaningful and formative in their design. Testing is largely a source of formative assessment to guide instruction for students, if they are consistently proficient, maybe testing isn't the best use of their time. I am a bit confused, you are upset about the dropping of a norm referenced test. That is mind-boggling to me as norm referenced means half pass, half fail. So, that doesn't really tell you much. I am glad my state no longer uses any sort of norm referenced test Honestly, their changes seem to be more meaningful and formative in their design. Testing is largely a source of formative assessment to guide instruction for students, if they are consistently proficient, maybe testing isn’t the best use of their time.
I am a bit confused, you are upset about the dropping of a norm referenced test. That is mind-boggling to me as norm referenced means half pass, half fail. So, that doesn’t really tell you much. I am glad my state no longer uses any sort of norm referenced test

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