This week the county school district administered the FCATs (Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Test). The FCAT scores are used to measure a school’s performance in regards to the state’s academic requirements. The results are also used in the overall grading of a school annually. We’re very lucky in the fact that the boys have attended all A rated schools for elementary, middle, and high school.Every year these tests get teachers, parents, and students all atwitter. There are so many arguments for and against the FCATs. I've heard some parents complain that teachers only "teach to the test and not to the child." I'm not quite sure what that means. Yes, teachers need to teach the material that's on the FCAT because the FCAT tests the curriculum set forth by the state.
The local news channels play up the hype too. They remind parents to make sure the kids get a good night's sleep and eat a healthy breakfast in the morning. Nope, this week I decided to force the kids to drink Mountain Dew and play video games all night. Then in the morning I kicked them out the door with a frosted Pop Tart and a Red Bull.
Seriously, the school district does everything in its power to help the students succeed. Hot breakfasts are provided every morning of testing even if the child isn't on the meal program. Teachers don't assign homework for the lower grades. And many extra-curricular activities (except sports) are put on hold.
We don't stress out in our house about standardized testing. My only issue is that the kids have too much pent-up energy at the end of the day. We've had way too many unnecessary wrestling matches and one golf club incident this week.
I'm wondering about opinions from the perspective of parent, student, or teacher. What's yours?
7 comments:
My kids are not yet school-age so my perspective on standardized testing comes from my days as a teacher.
As an elementary school teacher, we were required to stop normal teaching for weeks in order to teach the rote material the tests would examine. It was frustrating for everyone involved. A
s a high school teacher, I taught AP courses. AP tests did a better job, I think, of measuring the different types of knowledge the students had because it required them to both memorize facts and apply them through essays and document analysis.
I have no problem with standardized tests as long as they actually measure skills and knowledge. I suppose that's another debate, though: which skills and knowledge are worth knowing?
Between the 3 kids I've had 37 years of public schools so far. And lots of standardized testing. I don't know how states can figure out how kids are doing in the basics w/o them, but as Kristen pointed out, it's crazy that teachers have to spend weeks teaching to the test. Or go too quickly over really interesting topics they'd rather spend more time on. My youngest has language difficulties and doesn't do as well on standardized tests. yet she gets all A's in school. And then my oldest, my son, did incredibly on them and wasn't such a hot student. There must be a better way, but I have no idea what it is. I give each kid a shot of Schnapps before they head out the door on those days...Oh, wait, that's me.
I think that standardized testing has it's place. The fact that a teacher's salary or a school's funding ride on these test gives them to much power. I also have a child who is a good student but not a good test taker. He does well enough on these test but I know it doesn't reflect how smart he is.
The school puts so much emphasis on this week it is frustrating. Shouldn't parents be feeding their children a good breakfest all the time? Shouldn't they be making their children go to bed at a decent hour anyway? Why is that only during this week these things like that are important? Even Mc Donalds got in on the action this year by offering free breakfast on Tuesday to all students.
Like I said these test have there place and I understand why they give them. But does it really tell me what my child does or does not know.
Marcia, you are sooo right. Parents SHOULD be doing all of the above on all school days.
Here is WV, it seems like my friends who teach are "swayed" to teach for the test. With the high number of missed days due to snow, there a number of local Boards of Ed. worried about how the "TEST SCORES" will suffer.
Thank you for all the comments. Kristen's comment as a teacher really opened my eyes. Do the teachers really have to stop their regular curriculum to "prep" the students for the tests? I didn't experience that as a student and therefore never took an SAT prep class.
We must be EXTREMELY lucky to live where we do. The elementary school the boys attended was very low-key about the FCAT. Maybe that's why the boys don't get stressed. Also, writing is only tested in 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. When Mr. A was in 8th grade 60 students across the state got 6/6 on their essay. Twenty of those students (including Mr. A) attend his middle school.
I still think that standardized testing is important. That's why the SATs exist. Colleges need a way to measure students that come from such diverse educational backgrounds.
One more thing... Mr. A's AP classes are starting to prep for the AP tests. That should be interesting.
The FCAT is so important to the administrations of public schools that mine freaked when they heard that about half of the junior class planned to "Christmas Tree" the Science FCAT. Their solution? Have the proctors watch the students while they took the test. If they took enough time on it and it didn't look like they just fudged it, they got an ice cream at lunch, and were subsequently entered into a drawing for an ipod nano. If they got done too fast, too bad for them. I think the schools need to get their priorities straight.
Unfortunately, I think that some standardized testing is necessary to make sure we're all on the same page with benchmarks and performance, but must they be everything? When I hear that field trips are being postponed because of FCAT prep and virtually everything revolves around it, that's a sad state of affairs for education. I remember one of the first "skills" D-man being taught in kindergarten was how to fill in the damn circle completely!
It's also interesting for us. D-Man always underperforms in math on FCATS--maybe nerves? But he's very successful (consistently) in math during class. Because of his FCAT scores, he's not eligible for advanced math--a pitiful measure. He could easily do it but instead is bored and unchallenged in the basic class. Cheers to the BS of standardized testing!
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