Testing More, Teaching Less - American Federation of Teachers

More documents

Recommendations

Info

added teacher assessment, class size reduction, orfull-day kindergarten (Yeh, 2008; Yeh, 2010). Therapid assessment systems in these studies havestudents choose books based on their readinglevels and then they take a comprehension quizafter reading each book. In math, each student receivesindividualized math problem sets daily, andstudents score their answers using a device in theclassroom. The rapid assessment system imposes aminimal burden on teachers because students scantheir own bubble sheets, software is used to scoreeach assessment, and reports are available to teachersand administrators electronically.Diagnostic Testing. Districts use various assessmentsto ascertain each student’s strengths andweaknesses to adjust curricula and instruction tomeet student needs. Some states require districtsto administer assessments to students on basic literacy.Some diagnostic assessments are given to allstudents in the early grades but only to low-scoringstudents in subsequent grades.Midwestern School District: The DIAL assessmentof developmental indicators is given toall pre-K students; the Naglieri nonverbal abilitytest is administered in kindergarten andgrades 2, 6 and 8. The Developmental ReadingAssessment (DRA) is administered threetimes annually in kindergarten through grade6. Both the DIAL and the DRA are administeredand scored by teachers. Although strictlyspeaking not a diagnostic test, the StanfordAchievement Test is given once a year tokindergartners and twice annually to studentsin grades 1-2—those grades not subject tomandated state testing.Eastern School District: A kindergarten assessmentof developmental indicators isindividually administered to each studentthree times annually followed by the DIBELSlanguage assessment, also administered threetimes a year, to all students in grades K-3 andonce annually in grades 4-5. Technically nota diagnostic test, the TerraNova achievementtest is given annually in grades K-2.College Entrance Exams and Advanced Placement.College-bound students are often interestedin taking Advanced Placement or InternationalBaccalaureate courses, and this course work hasnational tests. Midwestern District has a multiyearprogram to prepare students for the college entranceexamination. The EXPLORE (Grades 7-8),PLAN (Grades 9-10) and ACT District Choice Testingare pre-ACT tests that project ACT scores as wellas data regarding concepts and skills that studentscan improve to help progressively increase theirperformance. Most students in the district participatein PLAN and EXPLORE. In Eastern District,students in grades 10 and 11 take the PreliminarySAT (PSAT).Other Academic Assessments. Districts maychoose, at their discretion, to administer otherassessments, although these locally chosen assessmentsmay be related to a federal or state mandate.Midwestern School District, for example, adoptedthe 21st Century Skills Assessment for its NCLBTechnology Literacy measure. This test is given tostudents in grades 5 and 8 twice a year; in grades6-7 it is given once in the spring.Eastern School District has implemented an extensivedistrict-developed Curriculum-Based Assessments(CBA) system, which is administered at leasttwice yearly. The CBAs are “standardized” acrossthe district in grades 2-12, but they are teacher-developedand teacher-scored. The CBAs overlap withstate-mandated testing, and in grades 3-5 modifiedversions of the CBAs (administered four times a yearin math and five times a year in reading) are used asinterim/benchmarking tests. The GRADE (Pearson)literacy assessment adds a fourth layer of tests (inaddition to state tests, benchmarking and the CBAs).The 90-minute test, which is given three times ayear, is a requirement for participating in a federallyfunded literacy program.Testing More, Teaching Less 15
Time Committed to TestingTime for Students to Read and Respond to Questions.Most students in Midwestern School Districtspent approximately 15 hours or more per year onstate-mandated tests, interim/benchmarking testsand other district assessments (Figure 1A). The timecommitted to testing in Eastern School District—where students in grades 6-11 spent up to 55 hoursper year on state-mandated, benchmarking tests anddistrict assessments (Figure 1B)—was substantiallyhigher than in Midwestern School District.Midwestern School District: Fifth- and eighthgradestudents spent the most time on tests(more than 20 hours per pupil); students in K-2and grades 11-12 spent the least time (five to10 hours per pupil). The state-mandated testsexceeded five hours only in the fifth, eighth andninth grades, in part because the state tests useonly multiple-choice questions. Many states addshort-answer or extended-response questionsthat demonstrate performance but require costlygrading by hand. The interim/benchmarkingtests are more time-consuming than the statemandatedtests.Eastern School District: Eighth- and 11th-gradestudents spent the most time on tests (50 to 55hours per year) and K-2 students the least (aboutfive hours per year). The district tests are themost time-consuming of all of the tests examined,amounting for more than 30 hours peryear in grades 6-11. Interim/benchmarking testsexceeded nine hours per year in grades 3-5 andexceeded 13 hours per year in grades 6-11.Time for Administrative Tasks with Students. Inaddition to the time students are given to read testitems and answer questions, students sit in testingsites while administrative tasks are being performed(e.g., receiving directions, as test booklets and answersheets are passed out, reading directions on thecomputer, etc.) before and after each testing session.The widely used MAP interim/benchmark test, for example,allows about an hour per subject for studentsto read and answer questions, but MAP wants districtsto reserve 75 minutes to allow for administrative taskswith students (NWEA, 2006).In Pennsylvania, state officials recommend thatdistrict test administrators add 20 minutes for eachtesting session to account for administrative tasks withstudents (Pennsylvania Department of Education,2011). For example, the three math testing sessionsadd up to 185 minutes, but test administrators needto schedule another 60 minutes (three sessions at 20minutes each) for administrative tasks with students.Over all four subjects, the 12 testing sessions add16 American Federation of Teachers
Page 1 and 2: Testing More,Teaching LessWhat Amer
Page 3 and 4: Randi WeingartenpresidentLorretta J
Page 5 and 6: ation. Instead, public policy and p
Page 8 and 9: Executive SummaryOBJECTIVESStudents
Page 10 and 11: associated interim/benchmarking tes
Page 12 and 13: The Testing LandscapeState-mandated
Page 14 and 15: Table 1BAssessment Inventory, Midwe
Page 16 and 17: Midwestern Public SchoolsTesting Ca
Page 20 and 21: approximately four hours to student
Page 22 and 23: $20,000 per pupil in the highest-sp
Page 24 and 25: Instructional Time Lostto Test Prep
Page 26 and 27: proximately three hours per week. T
Page 28 and 29: Time Initiative estimated that incr
Page 30 and 31: ReferencesBruno, Robert, Steven Ash
Page 32 and 33: APPENDIXResearch on Time Used for T
Page 34 and 35: Appendix Table ADirect Cost of Asse
Page 36 and 37: Appendix Table CEstimated Hours of

Testing More, Teaching Less - American Federation of Teachers

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?