High Stakes Testing: Who's Cheating Whom?

I talked to a first-grade teacher some time back who told me she was retiring, and when I asked her what made her decide that it was time to leave the classroom, she said, "When they handed me the script." In light of recent news developments, I began to wonder: what if they had also handed her an eraser?

I ask that question not to be provocative, but as a sad commentary on the corruptive influence high-stakes tests have had on our students, teachers and schools. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Cox newspapers investigation found "suspect" scores on standardized tests in school districts across the country. The paper's analysis does not prove that any widespread cheating occurred; it merely points to unusual test score swings.

It would be unfair to pass premature judgment on any of these school systems. The story will undoubtedly trigger a thorough review -- as it should. As educators, we should never condone cheating of any kind for any reason. Likewise, we should never miss an opportunity to underscore the possible consequences when real learning and effective teaching are sacrificed at the altar of high test scores.

Under No Child Left Behind, students as young as 6 or 7 years old are subjected to weeks of preparation for high stakes tests. Because math and reading are the dominant testing subjects, history, civics, music and art are squeezed out of the school day. For the last 10 years we have shortchanged countless children because of NCLB's overemphasis on standardized multiple choice tests. Or as Gary Miron, professor of education at Western Michigan University, wrote: "The bigger problem is a more serious type of cheating -- one that's perfectly legal and apparently acceptable. Students are being cheated of a broader education..."

Tests shouldn't be used to punish schools, as is the case under NCLB, or to pigeonhole students or their teachers. Educators aren't alone in being fed up with narrow, punitive accountability measures. Parents also want well-designed, timely assessments that monitor individual student progress across a range of subjects and skills, one of the key findings in a new study by the Northwest Evaluation Association.

We should use assessments to help teachers improve their practice, help students evaluate their own strengths and needs, and focus help on the students and subjects that need attention.

Let's get back to the core purpose of public education -- ensuring students have access to a great education that prepares them for lifelong learning and success -- and leave the pressure cooker for pot roasts.

 

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Comments

[Dr Ken ALSTON]

11:45 AM on 05/18/2012

The issues of assessment are critical but the KEY QUESTION is why (for what purpose) do we assess pupils work? There are two kinds of assessment - Assessment of Learning AND Assessment for Learning. The first produces scores/marks, the second produces written comments for each individual pupil providing guidance on HOW to improve. Marks impact a child's ego only. Well written comments guide and support the child/pupil/student towards improvement. All this testing, or whatever name we give it, achieves little. Let's stop and reassess our own actions!!! There is excellent research done recently in Britain on these very issues which I can strongly recommend - I am not British but am using their research for a staff development workshop for teachers.

[Blue Stem]

10:14 AM on 03/30/2012

My students are cheated out of computer time and extended learning thanks to these tests. In businesses, people learn on the job. Are they Tested? There are those out there that train employees. Are those people tested year after year? No, this testing is for only one thing. For private corps. to get into schools and sell their databases, test practice software and other gimmicks to schools. It is under the guise of testing. What do other countries do? They are going away from so much testing, they are laughing at the US and its 18th century practices. China, S. Korea, can't believe it! They respect their teachers, pay them and do not publicly humiliate them. By doing all these nasty things to teachers, there is a movement to kill public schools. No more ed. for the masses. No more equalization.

[ksreaganite]

01:51 PM on 03/28/2012

I realize that objective testing in non-sexy subjects like reading, comprehension, and mathematics is anathema to most teachers, parents, and students. Do our competitors do it? Does it help them produce more HS grads who can read, write, and go on to become engineers, scientists, and physicists? Look, nobody likes tests....but getting something for nothing may have worked before technology and trade made it a competitive world. Not anymore. Yes, yes, I know all the arguments for how a well rounded person etc etc.....doesn't take away from the col fact that reading, writing, hard sciences, and mathematics are the most important and they cannot be taught without tests and lots of homework. So turn off the tv, take away the Xbox, snap the internet connection and help your kids with homework and tests.

[watcherback]

06:04 AM on 03/29/2012

Wow, the suggestions you just made for student test score improvement are all out of the teachers' control and yet teachers are the ones that get all of the blame for student performance on standardized tests.

[shelvern]

10:19 AM on 05/01/2012

Let's start this Atlanta test cheating with the understanding that majority Black schools outscored the with schools, including private schools and that is impossible in the minds of some. They went crazy trying to justify their premise. The more ink the AJC gives, the more stupid the issue sounds.