I disagree that it was the tests that were the problem. It was those that made a big deal about the test scores mattering.
From 1963 - 1973, our school district administered at least one standardized test every year. Our elementary teachers weren't graded on their performance and we were only given a few days notice of when the tests woul…
I disagree that it was the tests that were the problem. It was those that made a big deal about the test scores mattering.
From 1963 - 1973, our school district administered at least one standardized test every year. Our elementary teachers weren't graded on their performance and we were only given a few days notice of when the tests would be held. Several weeks after the tests were administered the results were passed out to each student who could do with them what they wanted.
One of my class mates and arch enemies because he was so frickin' good at taking tests always got straight 99's on the Iowa Basics and close to perfect marks on the Stanford-Binet's. He score 790/780 on the SAT's and attended the University of Nebraska on a full ride scholarship. To keep the scholarship he had to maintain a 2.5 GPA and receive no D's or F's. He lost the scholarship after his Freshman year. After he graduated he received two masters degrees and went on to a career as a cook in various nursing homes. After he retired from cooking he has worked part-time in big box stores.
His IQ is off the charts, but his MQ (motivational quotient) is very low. I don't blame the standardized tests for low MQ or his high IQ for that matter.
My daughter had to take the achievement tests in rural ME and then again in Jacksonville. None of her teachers dwelled on teaching to the tests in either place.
But I don't deny there were/are many schools and even states that focus on the tests instead of teaching the humanities, but I'm not sure we can blame the tests on this.
A friend of mine's dad was a high school math teach in Hancock County, ME. His dad often said, "Smart students make good teachers." Perhaps a little tongue in cheek, but teachers can't pick their students even if they are teaching the gifted students.
" . . . not sure we can blame the tests on this," Gary?
OK. How about blaming the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institution, and ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) which together allowed U.S. corporate and private billionaire post-Powell-memo plans to dehumanize the schools?
Dehumanizing the schools anesthetized America and its elites to be unaware of the more malicious plans to offshore the millions of working-class jobs, firm-up the Citizens United oligarchy in the U.S., and finally pervert the Supreme Court into today's Clarence court.
Sure, Gary, we can call the tests mere instruments, and cede real problem to the predators who today rule.
Especially so if we credit statements by such as Jean Bower and Mary Ellen Spicuzza, here, who as teachers testify to what happened to them.
Fair enough Phil. The tests SHOULD be a tool to determine the needs of each individual student not to vilify teachers or force them to teach all students exactly the same.
I happened to grow up in a lower middle class neighborhood in Omaha, where half of the dads worked blue collar jobs and the other half white collar jobs. This was in the 1960's and early 1970's. Judging by the number of students in our high school that went on to get college degrees (about 70%) I would say we had exceptional teachers and a very good curriculum.
My daughter had a similar experience in rural Maine although not quite as many went to college. Before her junior year in high school she transferred to Ponte Vedra High School in Ponte Vedra, FL. She had an amazing class both academically and athletically. Her Florida High School class ranked 2nd academically and 7th athletically in FL. Never once did her mother and I feel like she wasn't challenged by her teachers or the curriculum.
She graduated in 2012 from high school. I don't doubt that the educational system today suffers in many states. Fortunately, that wasn't my experience or my daughter's.
And as for offshoring jobs, yes that is a problem. I've competed with programmers from India, Russia, Ireland because we are considered interchangeable widgets. But that's a discussion for another time.
I taught 11th graders who were the ones tested. I did not follow the time-wasting school directives to spend time daily “teaching to the (shudder) test,” I continued with teaching of the English literature/ writing curriculum approved by the Board. What I did do was make it clear I wasn’t tolerating just filling in bubbles, not attempting to test seriously, or disturbances of any kind. I had a point system that allowed me to deduct from their quarterly grades if behavior detracted from learning. My class was made up of the average, not AP, students of several different ethnicities. They were in the highest performing classes of the school. This was in the 90’s when mandatory testing hit the high schools.
Having taught for 30 years in public schools, I would like to say a word about testing as a teacher. Toward the end of my career I found testing took so much time from teaching that it was actually disruptive. Funding was often dependent on test results. This fact sometimes resulted in “selective” test takers. At one time I was even required to grade some of those tests. Teaching to the test was inevitable. The status of the school financial and otherwise depended on good test results. In another respect: the office of the counselor became for much of the time, the office of test facilitator, which resulted in in availability to students who might be in need of immediate help. I felt that the tests turned kids into robots and parents into slaves to SAT scores. Just my perspective, but I can’t tell you how much I hated being chained by those tests.
I disagree that it was the tests that were the problem. It was those that made a big deal about the test scores mattering.
From 1963 - 1973, our school district administered at least one standardized test every year. Our elementary teachers weren't graded on their performance and we were only given a few days notice of when the tests would be held. Several weeks after the tests were administered the results were passed out to each student who could do with them what they wanted.
One of my class mates and arch enemies because he was so frickin' good at taking tests always got straight 99's on the Iowa Basics and close to perfect marks on the Stanford-Binet's. He score 790/780 on the SAT's and attended the University of Nebraska on a full ride scholarship. To keep the scholarship he had to maintain a 2.5 GPA and receive no D's or F's. He lost the scholarship after his Freshman year. After he graduated he received two masters degrees and went on to a career as a cook in various nursing homes. After he retired from cooking he has worked part-time in big box stores.
His IQ is off the charts, but his MQ (motivational quotient) is very low. I don't blame the standardized tests for low MQ or his high IQ for that matter.
My daughter had to take the achievement tests in rural ME and then again in Jacksonville. None of her teachers dwelled on teaching to the tests in either place.
But I don't deny there were/are many schools and even states that focus on the tests instead of teaching the humanities, but I'm not sure we can blame the tests on this.
A friend of mine's dad was a high school math teach in Hancock County, ME. His dad often said, "Smart students make good teachers." Perhaps a little tongue in cheek, but teachers can't pick their students even if they are teaching the gifted students.
" . . . not sure we can blame the tests on this," Gary?
OK. How about blaming the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institution, and ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) which together allowed U.S. corporate and private billionaire post-Powell-memo plans to dehumanize the schools?
Dehumanizing the schools anesthetized America and its elites to be unaware of the more malicious plans to offshore the millions of working-class jobs, firm-up the Citizens United oligarchy in the U.S., and finally pervert the Supreme Court into today's Clarence court.
Sure, Gary, we can call the tests mere instruments, and cede real problem to the predators who today rule.
Especially so if we credit statements by such as Jean Bower and Mary Ellen Spicuzza, here, who as teachers testify to what happened to them.
Fair enough Phil. The tests SHOULD be a tool to determine the needs of each individual student not to vilify teachers or force them to teach all students exactly the same.
I happened to grow up in a lower middle class neighborhood in Omaha, where half of the dads worked blue collar jobs and the other half white collar jobs. This was in the 1960's and early 1970's. Judging by the number of students in our high school that went on to get college degrees (about 70%) I would say we had exceptional teachers and a very good curriculum.
My daughter had a similar experience in rural Maine although not quite as many went to college. Before her junior year in high school she transferred to Ponte Vedra High School in Ponte Vedra, FL. She had an amazing class both academically and athletically. Her Florida High School class ranked 2nd academically and 7th athletically in FL. Never once did her mother and I feel like she wasn't challenged by her teachers or the curriculum.
She graduated in 2012 from high school. I don't doubt that the educational system today suffers in many states. Fortunately, that wasn't my experience or my daughter's.
And as for offshoring jobs, yes that is a problem. I've competed with programmers from India, Russia, Ireland because we are considered interchangeable widgets. But that's a discussion for another time.
I had one standardized test eons ago, no big deal. They made it one and the anxiety of the kids skyrocketed. Unnecessarily
I taught 11th graders who were the ones tested. I did not follow the time-wasting school directives to spend time daily “teaching to the (shudder) test,” I continued with teaching of the English literature/ writing curriculum approved by the Board. What I did do was make it clear I wasn’t tolerating just filling in bubbles, not attempting to test seriously, or disturbances of any kind. I had a point system that allowed me to deduct from their quarterly grades if behavior detracted from learning. My class was made up of the average, not AP, students of several different ethnicities. They were in the highest performing classes of the school. This was in the 90’s when mandatory testing hit the high schools.
Having taught for 30 years in public schools, I would like to say a word about testing as a teacher. Toward the end of my career I found testing took so much time from teaching that it was actually disruptive. Funding was often dependent on test results. This fact sometimes resulted in “selective” test takers. At one time I was even required to grade some of those tests. Teaching to the test was inevitable. The status of the school financial and otherwise depended on good test results. In another respect: the office of the counselor became for much of the time, the office of test facilitator, which resulted in in availability to students who might be in need of immediate help. I felt that the tests turned kids into robots and parents into slaves to SAT scores. Just my perspective, but I can’t tell you how much I hated being chained by those tests.