Standardized testing should not run schools
Giving tests is one area where Alabama education is an expert. For decades we have been testing children in every grade each year with one of the most rigorous exam systems in the country.
Those standardized tests are how we evaluate schools and principals.
Testing is so engrained in how schools work that for weeks in February and March teaching stops for test preparation. Any parent will tell you about the days and days devoted to practice tests.
One of the side effects of high-stakes testing is that once they are over, there is a real sense that the school year is done, even though there are months left.
Not to say that teaching and learning isn’t going on right now in our local classrooms—it’s just that there is often less momentum at the end of the school year, and the earlier testing is the problem.
We don’t test at the very end of the school year because federal mandates demand that school test scores are published well before the next school year. State officials say that with just about every student being tested, it takes months to process and then notify folks on the scores.
We need to do what we can have tests later in the school year.
It is obvious that students need to be tested to see what they know and how far they have progressed. Testing is also necessary for accountability.
We found out by the big leap in the elementary reading scores that the Alabama Reading Initiative was having a huge impact in schools. We found out by rising test scores about the effectiveness of the Alabama Math and Science Initiative.
However, it is possible to have the wrong kind of testing, or to rely on it too much. That is what many teachers and parents in Alabama have felt we have been doing for a while.
We are just too test oriented.
It is fair to say that testing seems to have taken control of our education system. While test taking is an important skill, it cannot come at the expense of learning and critical thinking.
While it is good that a student can pass a test, it may have little bearing on whether he or she can get and hold a job, or be able to succeed in college.
After years of using tests, we have a much better idea of what works and what properly measures student achievement. We are ready to move forward on a new testing system.
First, we are discontinuing the Alabama graduation exam. Instead, we will now require all 11th grade students to take the ACT college entrance examination.
The ACT is the South’s standard college test, and the state will assume the cost of the ACT for each student one time. If students are not satisfied with the score, it will be their responsibility to retake the test and pay the fee.
The hope is that if there are more students taking the ACT then more will be encouraged to consider college.
Students will also take final exams at the end of the year in their courses of different subjects. These finals will be used as a factor on whether they graduate.
It makes sense to rely on final exams administered by teachers rather than a major all-inclusive exam that is removed from the curriculum that was the graduation exam. Finals will also keep students focused right to the end of the year.
We are also changing the testing system for grades three through eight.
These students now take the Alabama Reading and Math Test, sections of the Standford-10 Achievement Test, the Alabama Science Assessment, and the Alabama Direct Assessment of Writing.
It’s like an alphabet soup of tests, and it takes weeks to give.
We will now combine these into one three-day test that will save money and instructional time, and hopefully we can give them later in the school year.
Tests have been part of education ever since there have been schools. They have their place, and when done right they are an important tool for teaching and learning.
We just need to be sure that the tests don’t take over schools.
Johnny Mack Morrow is a state representative for Franklin County. His column appears each Wednesday.
