4/19/2012 Assignment for ED-745 Shari Wickline Write a two page paper detailing your view of standardized testing,

and how you feel teachers and students should be evaluated.

My views on standardized testing are similar to most of the individuals in which I have spoken. Standardized testing does not adequately assess a students understanding and ability to apply information they have learned. Over the years I have seen students who are performing well academically, yet when given the standardized test they perform poorly. The opposite is true for students who usually do not perform well, they may score high. This is not a fair assessment for students that have test anxiety, or problems testing under the pressures we are placing on them by completing exams such as these. On the other end of the spectrum I can see how the implementation of standardized testing can bring an awareness into the strengths and weaknesses of how and what students are being taught. Over the past weeks many schools

have been spending quality class time preparing and reviewing for the upcoming OAA tests. This far into the year a sense of what the students weaknesses are should be known and that is where the focus should be given. Spending time giving each student the same practice assessments is not ensuring the student has mastered the appropriate concepts they needed to know in order to do well. It is just prepping them to fill-in bubbles like robots. As the book said it is the individuals that work with the students each day that know how they are progressing academically. The administrators (in districts and at government levels) that are not having this contact with students are usually the ones making the decisions on how to teach and prepare for these types of exams. The stakes are high for everyone when it comes to the test results, but is it really providing our students with the best education? We have come a long way in the teaching

pedagogies, but to ensure everyone is learning to their maximum ability there is still growth that needs to take place. The information received from standardized testing are what a districts budget, and a teachers possible raise, is based. Using a score that compares one student or district to another does not seem like effective practice when determining budgets or wages. Authentic assessments are much better at depicting understanding and application of information being taught. Portfolios, running records, rubrics, reflections are just a few of the many creative ways students achievements and academic growth can be documented. These methods provide evidence that can be collected over a course of time that demonstrates their progression throughout the year. Although these methods are much more time consuming to review; it is these types of data that should be used to prove how students are learning and if a teacher is successfully teaching the required content to their students. With the amount of technology at our finger tips having an electronic way to authentically assess students work seems plausible. This type of system could make it possible to utilize authentic assessments in a similar way that standardized testing is being used, creating a more solid educational foundation for students. The chapter in the book did a great job of addressing the pros and cons of standardized testing, and providing support for the importance of more authentic assessing. The examples given for each type of authentic assessments nicely demonstrates how they can be adapted in all content areas.