Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Assessment gone mad

I just finished reading the following in a principal's note which doesn't even include the state mandated end of year subject testing.

"This year, students will not be participating in MAP testing. We will continue to use Fountas and Pinnell reading assessments; teachers use this assessment to figure out student reading levels. Formative and summative assessments in writing and math, including end of unit Math in Focus assessments, On Demand writing assessments will also occur throughout the year. Students will also participate in interim assessments in literacy three times during the year, starting in September, November and February. The interim assessments are taking students between 30-60. The information from interim assessments is immediate and teachers are able to create small groups, target specific standards, reteach or extend lessons based on results."

Its a wonder there's any time for anything else.

I'm confused. What is this "anything else" that you speak of?

Don't you know that all of this assessment is For The Children?

Here they do reading fluency 3 times per year, a test like MAP 3 times per year, the state standardized tests for reading and math (and sometimes science), multiple practice tests for the state standardized test, Fountas and Pinnell reading assessments 3 times per year, 4 different district written tests for math which they use to list skills on report cards, unit tests for math, and who knows what else. I've never heard of a writing test. I thought the Fountas and Pinnell reading tests, in particular, were absurd because the teacher didn't have them pick books of a certain level or "letter" anyway and there was no ability grouping or differentiation.

Frighteningly, I have actually heard an administrator say this almost word for word--in complete seriousness!

On another note, the amount of assessment taking place is probably not nearly as much as it sounds like (though still more than is necessary, or more accurately, not done in a time/cost effective manner). The F/P assessments are built into the curriculum, as are the MiF and On Demand writing assessments. Once upon a time, we just called some of these pretests and chapter tests. I'm not familiar with the exact form of writing by this name, but the description sounds like it is a quick 5- or 10-minute writing blast, such as many English teachers use for warm-up work (often called bellwork, journal, or freewrite). It's usually scored on a very narrow rubric (you may have heard the term FCA or MUG), which makes it quick and easy as a formative assessment.

The main concern I would have about exchanging MAP testing for this collection of portfolio materials is that the menu described is either highly teacher-dependent, or reliant on local norms (this is assuming the interim assessments are some form of cbm (curriculum-based assessment (measure)). Though if they were using cbm, it shouldn't take 30-60 minutes per student. More like about 5.

We only have teacher assessment against the national standard (below/on/above) it makes it hard to claim your child needs extending. Above means a year above but a lot of kids are a year above - it doesn't assess whether they are 3 years above. I would like some standardised tests and an actual text book would be wonderful but I agree that does sound like a lot.

I've had a sense that the words "test" and "quiz" are often being replaced with "assessment."

I'm a bit torn on the overall topic. A skilled teacher should have informal assessment built into their m.o. An unskilled teacher may not. Frequent administrative enforced assessments trammels a skilled teacher's professionalism.

But a certain amount provides some quality control and objective contrast.

In our case tests and quizzes are still happening. The assessments are an extra layer on top of that. For the most part I opt out of anything we are allowed to like the state tests and the Amplify ones and MAP tests we used to have. I'm concerned about the pernicious effect they are having on the rest of the school curriculum. For example both of my kids had an hour of typing instruction this week before the first testing cycle commences. That's pretty much all the school's are using their computer labs for. At this stage of the game, I don't need standardized testing to gauge progress. I'm more aware than the school is where each kids mostly stands on math and reading. All I want is work samples especially writing to be sent home regularly and some qualitative writeups.

I think assessments are more important when kids are younger. By 6th grade something like MAP testing is IMO a waste of time, especially for gifted kids. When kids are older time is more valuable and could be used on better things than more testing.

One of the benefits to being a homeschooler is the lack of focus on tests and assessments. Our state law requires homeschool students to take the state assessment in 3rd, 5th, 8th, and (I think) 11th grades. You are supposed to submit the official results back to the district (thought the acceptable standards are shockingly low, like 15%ile).

However in practice a) tons of people don't bother and no one seems to care b) even if you do they may refuse to accept the results because of bureaucratic paperwork BS (happened to us) and c) you don't have to spend any time preparing if you don't want to.

DDs learning center organizes testing for the state assessments as well as general achievement testing. For the latter, you can sign up for any grade level that makes sense. This means above level testing at the parent's discretion.