Although I am aware of the necessity of testing students, I believe MAP tests are perhaps one of the greatest examples of money
wasting I have ever seen. They are simply completely useless. I recall that
last time I took them, I believe only seven or eight students actually did
their best out of a class of about twenty. Not everyone is willing to spend
their time doing a test that has no influence on their lives or grades whatsoever.
Why work for 50 minutes on a test when you can click 50 answers in five minutes
and do whatever you want for the other 45?
I am no expert at this matter, but I believe students,
teachers and schools will be better served by an annual student report, which may
or may not include an electronic portfolio with links, videos and all the rest.
In my opinion, an English essay, a math project or test, a science project and
something from history would suffice. I am well aware that these cannot be
turned into numbers as easily, as that is the exact reason I chose them. If
someone wishes to check the efficiency of a school and its teachers or the
quality of a student, they may as well take the time to look at the damn stuff.
Numbers cannot define a person, especially when they are wrong. According to http://conceptualmath.org/misc/MAPtest.htm,
MAP tests are rotten to the core, and can be so inaccurate as to say a student
is one year below the standard while a student from the same class is one year
above, that being the change in scores from one semester to the next. The
website includes very well explained mathematical evidence. Right now, I feel
bad for the students whose needs are identified according to these tests.
Being aware of the terrible problem MAP tests have
become, I am now both worried and sure there are similar problems involving the
higher level of standardized testing: SATs. According to http://hypertextbook.com/eworld/sat.shtml
and http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N44/sat.html,
SAT scores are no more useful than a pair of dice when trying to determine a
High School student’s level of achievement as a college student. And the fact
that the very same scores are used to determine the quality of a college only
worsens the situation, creating a cycle of ignorant selection that ultimately
results in colleges choosing not the best students, but the best test-takers.
I have to say I admire the courage of the Garfield High
School teachers, who have put their jobs on the line in an attempt to ensure a
better future. However, I think they are unlikely to succeed on their own. To
ensure the end of useless testing, which has become quite a problem in America,
especially for teachers, action on a larger scale would be necessary. Although
they have received extensive support, it looks like not many people are willing
to join them. The boycott may be spreading according to the blog Process of Living,
written by history teacher William J. Tolley, but will it spread fast enough to
survive when the Garfield teachers lose their jobs?
Although the Seattle boycott focuses exclusively on
the testing aspect of education, anyone with half a brain is able to realize
that the severe changes that have impacted the world in the last couple decades
should be accompanied by changes in education, unless our generation is willing
to let completely unprepared kids meet certain failure due to decaying
education methods. Knowing several teachers who have already begun to move away
from traditional methods, I am sure this change is not an option, but really a
necessity. Here is Sir Ken Robinson on
one of the reasons why:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
Eduardo Berg
