Less Testing, More Assessing
Although testing is a form of assessment, assessment is not the same as testing. Assessment is defined as a process of collecting evidence of learning that is used to inform educational decisions. With testing, the user is given a score such as 1 meaning they got one right or maybe that’s their golf handicap. 36 can mean a perfect score on the ACT or a failing score on a 100 point test.
There is a growing movement to reduce over-testing and decrease the reliance on test scores to measure students and evaluate teachers. Call-outs from parents and educational groups often stress the need for better accountability based on multiple measures that highlight growth and inform improvement. Some believe that the tests narrow the spectrum of student learning. In response, they urge schools to provide a balance of opportunities that include the arts, technical skills, and a toolbox of strategies for success in learning and in life.
These noteworthy ideas come with challenges. Over the years there has been little professional development on classroom assessment strategies and minimal inclusion of it in pre-service programs. The changing nature of teaching, learning, and assessing requires improved abilities to assess learning outcomes as well as increased skills in determining students’ proficiencies in collaboration, digital literacy, creativity, real-world problem solving, and more. The current emphasis on data-driven instruction overlooks the value of qualitative data that is produced by alternative types of assessments such as rubrics and checklists as well as student’s self-assessment or their personal insights into where they struggled in grasping new ideas. Yet it is these assessments that are windows into a child’s mind that in turn inform instruction and guide responses to learning.
The transfer from heavy reliance on standardized test scores to an increased emphasis on classroom assessments is built on three foundations of professional practice:
- Guidance for teachers on the development of multiple types of classroom assessments from selected choice to projects.
- Support for interpreting, utilizing, and responding to the results of classroom assessment.
- Inclusion of classroom assessments in determining student mastery of standards.
In addition, teachers need to recognize the differences between testing (“You scored 36, or 100, or 800”- depending on the test), evaluation (“You are proficient”), and assessment (Here’s what you do well and how you can do better). What does this all mean? – We need to reduce the emphasis on testing and spend more time assessing.
6 Comments
Kayla Fitzgerald
June 18, 2015at 5:19 pmLaura,
I loved this blog! I’m very passionate about my comments I make in your class. This blog speaks to what I believe. We need to stop over testing our students. I believe what is more important is assessing them, seeing what their strengths and weaknesses are, then creating strategies to work on those weak areas. Last night during your class we had a great conversation about how much testing should count for in a students grade. Personally, I believe content is absolutely important, however, I would not weigh it the heaviest in my classroom. I believe that formative assessment should carry a greater weight. As teachers we see our students six hours a day, five days a week. We take mental notes, physical notes and know our students the best. A test with a number 76 on it does not tell me how much my students have grown or what needs to be worked on. As teachers I believe we take on some responsibility for teaching our students how to be proper beings in society (more so in certain districts). As I have stated before in your class I’m a firm believer that the students today are struggling with problem solving skills. On a daily basis I have students ask me questions that they should be able to answer or figure out themselves. Problem solving is a life skill and if not taught now, these children will struggle as adults. All of these standardized test turn students into robots, they cram information to “pass” these tests then have no actual knowledge to take with them to the next grade. We need to stop testing so much and start assessing our students more! Education is about lifelong learning, not cramming information for standardized tests. Our job is to give our students the best education we can and prepare them for life. A standardized test does not do that.
Ray Sciarretta
June 25, 2015at 3:14 pmThis is a lot of what we have talked about this trimester and I can only agree with you. Having all of these tests takes so much time away from learning, not only because it takes time during the day to actually have the test, but because so many teachers are teaching to test. Having more performance assessments rather than tests would be far more meaningful to students. I think an assessment would allow students to really be creative and show their personality and learning style, something they are unable to do on a test. Also, a performance assessment would allow students do work on something that interests them. It would also be more meaningful in the long run as they will be creating projects, doing research, and presenting all their lives. These are skills that students need forever. Testing on the other hand? Not so much. It’s stressful and cannot accurately account for the whole student.
Taroob Cheema
June 25, 2015at 4:38 pmLaura,
I think this highlights so much of what we have discussed in class. As a future educator, I absolutely agree that the emphasis of what should be taught is so vital if we want our students to learn and grow. But what I liked the most about this post is that you emphasized solutions to the issue of testing vs. assessment as well. Although I believe many of the younger generation of incoming teachers strive to make changes that will allow for further student learning, I believe many older teachers are wary of the changes that need to be implemented. I say this because of what I have observed at my internship. Many of the teachers I work do put the emphasis on a grade more than achievement and I am sure this influenced by a number of reasons, including the pressures felt due to standardized testing. Yet, I believe that the emphasis on student learning needs to continue via professional development in order for educators to positively impact the lives of the largest number of students.
Shealyn King
July 1, 2015at 2:17 pmIn general I have never understood the emphasis on testing. There are tests in class and tests given by the state. By the time students are done with the year, they have been inundated with testing and percentage grades that do not give them any feedback in where to improve. Their work has simply become a number. Testing also promotes cramming which does no good for the student as they are not really learning the material. They will have it programmed into their brains for a short time and then quickly lose it again with the committal to short term memory. State testing and the national tests provide another problem. The teacher is simply teaching to the test making sure that the students know the material because now testing is all about numbers. The numbers tell whether or not the teacher is good at their job. Their ability is measured through a test that some students might not even be able to take or parents pull their kids out. It is not an accurate representation of the teaching ability. I believe that testing also takes away from what children are curious about. There is less time for tangents and learning about what they want to know about the world around them because there are simply too many tests.
Assessments are a much better alternative to testing and should be used more often. Assessments provide that feedback that is so important. It gives the constructive criticism or feedback that allows students to understand where they went wrong, why, and where to go from there. It teaches them how to become better learners in a more productive way. The assessments allow room to grow and make the mistakes necessary to learn. Many students now are afraid of mistakes. They stress out about them and worry about failing the tests or getting even one wrong answer and the more prominent use of assessments will help remedy that. The assessments also let students know what they are good at or doing well in. It is so much more satisfactory and rewarding to know that even if a lesson is not fully learned there are still aspects that are understood and that the student is doing well in. It helps promote confidence to do better and confidence that the students are capable in their studies and making progress. It is the progress that is important and how the student does over time, not just about the end product. As a popular quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson states: “Life is a journey, not a destination.” so too should schooling and learning be a journey and not a destination.
Lauren Strillacci
July 1, 2015at 4:59 pmAs a pre-service teacher at UNH, we are constantly reminded of the importance of assessment. After all, we are required to take a course called “Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation”. There is no question that assessment is vital in education, and like you said “We need to reduce the emphasis on testing and spend more time assessing”. I agree 100% with what you are saying, but unfortunately I believe that teachers are pressured more than ever to implement more tests and teach more to the test. I don’t believe that any sort of standardized test, even those within the classroom, can truly assess the 21st century skills that our students need to be mastering. Whether a student gets a 100 on his history test or even a nearly perfect SAT score will not matter in the long run if they cannot communicate with their peers or think creatively. I am glad that the scholars are recognizing the need to focus more on these skills, as I have read countless articles outlining their necessity. However, until the policy makers, and even our own local officials and administrators recognize this as well, I foresee a long future of testing, testing, and more testing.
Anthony Sanzaro
July 1, 2015at 8:17 pmAs we discussed in our measurement and assessment class, American education is making a push to more practical/hands on based learning that caters to a skill set that will allow students to excel in the 21st century. Considering that this is the ultimate goal in this new initiative, there must also be an increase in project based learning, where the emphasis is on the process and developing/improving skills needed to create an exceptional final product. In this regard, there would certainly be a push to have less testing and the scores that are associated with many traditional test forms.