As a group we are trying to figure out how standardized testing ultimately prepares students for their future. We have broken the prioject down into four major parts.
1) Test taking and life skills
2) Newark schools
3) Other schools as a measure(including in state suburban schools and other countries)
4) State required standardized tests and the effect on curriculum
I am gathering information on state standardized tests and the effect it has on curriculum. It has become very apparent that all of the standardized tests have a great impact on curriculum. At a young age students are required to take the NJ Ask. This starts in grade 3 and goes up to grade 8. Then in high school students take the HSPA as juniors. A major problem that I am seeing is that there is such a focus to pass these tests that students are spending a lot of classroom time just preparing for them. This has led to many test prep companies capitalizing on this and publishing many books about these tests. The students seem to be focusing on how to pass a specific test rather than gaining knowledge for future success.
Another issue that I plan to focus on is that although all these standardized tests come from the Core Curriculum Content Standards, the test given to third graders is vastly different than that given to juniors. The NJ Ask for third graders tests seven areas:
1. Language Arts Literacy
2. Mathematics
3. Science
4. Visual and Performing Arts
5. Social Studies
6. Health and Physical Education
7. World Languages
(The New Jersey Department of Education http://www.nj.gov/education/assessment/es/njask_info_guide.pdf)
The HSPA tests just these two:
1. Mathematics
2. Language Arts Literacy
(The New Jersey Department of Education
http://www.state.nj.us/education/assessment/hs/hspa_guide_english.pdf)
It seems that by testing in the seven areas that students at a young age are given many opportunities to succeed and to find out what they are good at. Then as they get older they are only tested on two major subjects. Why does this happen? I plan to investigate this further and I think this will help lead our group in the right direction toward ultimately answering our question. Actually, I think it will just lead to many more questions.
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I think it's interesting that the focus on subject areas narrows as students progress through grade levels. Good point.
ReplyDeleteThese tests are going to be a challenge to get funding and find people to revise and change them all to fit the proper needs of the future.
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested in the idea of testing the seven intelligences only through primary years. I feel that all of the seven areas should have weight in the secondary years; it there where you can expand on the fundamentals and find a suitable path for future endeavors, wether they be in the workforce or in further education. I suppose there is some explanation... Have you found anything more on it?
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic. It's funny, though. When I think back on my high school experience, I don't remember teachers specifically teaching to any of the myriad standardized tests we had to take. I also had no idea that 3rd graders were tested so extensively. Maybe I don't remember all this testing because there have always been standardized tests in school. They've been taken for granted as a normal part of schooling.
ReplyDeleteI fpund that the research youhave done is quite interesting. That is all you really hear about being focused on especially in Newark. I believe that they stress it too much. They need to let the students relax a litle.
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