Accountability+and+Assessment

There are a number of disadvantages and negatives in regard to the use of high stake testing. On the opposing or positive side, there are specific advantages. From an educational perspective, the following should be advantages of the use of such testing This obsession with high stake testing is traced to the early 1990’s The perception is that American schools are failing: in particular, they are failing to meet the needs of the most disadvantaged students, The presumption was that by looking at test scores, the system would reward those performed at the highest level and this would inspire the others to improve their performance. Americans tend to be obsessed with efficiency and measurable results. The use of testing data satisfies these obsessions. Testing data also supplies some uniformity to educational practices.
 * Accountability and Assessment **
 * Too great an emphasis on a single test distorts the value of the results: carries too high a symbolic value of perceived control and order
 * Inordinate amount of time spent on test preparation too the detriment of actual instruction
 * Not a real measure of student achievement : a score on a state test isn’t indicative of success on other standardized tests
 * Teachers teach to the test and neglect instruction in subject areas other than the core
 * Exam content becomes the curriculum
 * The manner in which the test questions are asked begins to shape and control instructional methods as well as content
 * Mandating one test score as proof of a child’s academic accomplishment eliminates differentiated needs, developmentally appropriate practices and creates pressure on children
 * In particular, students with disabilities have been impacted by requirements that are not consistent with their abilities
 * Curricular priorities are shifted from the local district and its teachers to the test constructors
 * Content standards have been formulated
 * Performance targets are established
 * Instructional accountability is expected
 * Where there is an emphasis on written responses to questions studies show an increased emphasis on writing and higher level thinking skills
 * Educational leaders are forced to look at performance within their schools; this process should prompt school reform

A key factor in this obsession with testing is the political angle. Education has been placed in the hands of the politicians who need to justify to the electorate that they are monitoring the educational system and justifying expenditures in the area of education. It is the injection of the political element that has intensified the call for tougher standards and more testing.

Strong objections can be made to the use of tests scores as a measure of educational success or failure. Studies point to the lack of correlation between test scores and in-depth learning. Test scores may have predictive value but they do not tell us whether a person is truly educated in the broadest sense of that word. Doing well on a test is not indicative of whether a student is using their mind, or their ability to reason, well. It is true that schools and districts have been known to cheat, that too much time can be spent simply teaching the test, that tests //sometimes// encourage rote work, not higher level skills. All of this has truth but so does the fact that globally, our schools are less effective than other educational systems.

Accountability is needed in the educational realm. Our schools have produced functional illiterates. Teachers can slide by and get through a whole year without really teaching the curriculum. These are realities which the education profession must face and change. Is it that students didn’t learn or is it that teachers didn’t teach which has led us to the reality of high stake testing?

Most businesses and industrial operations practice some form of analysis of data to determine best practices and future practices. This has not been the practice by education professionals. Education decisions have often been made through less analytical procedures; these decisions being reached through dialogue, consensus, intuition, personal experience or educational philosophy. The reality of high stake testing makes it imperative that teaching professionals understand how to evaluate and interpret data in order to align assessment with instruction. Having a foundation in data analysis and assessment is essential for educators.

Assessment experts realize the necessity of validity: that is to what extent does a test measure what it claims to measure? Content, criterion-reference and construct are the principle types of validity studied..

Data driven assessments are significant tools that help to align curriculum, standards and instruction. This can alleviate wasted instructional time, the absence of essential curriculum instruction as well focus instructional goals and objectives.

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