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Archives
- October, 2005
The
Purpose of Tests – October
27, 2005
I’m getting a little old to feel like Alice in Wonderland. But that’s what it’s like whenever I hear public
educators talk – I feel like I’m entering a bizarre, magical world
where nothing is as it seems. This time the feeling came on as I read an
interview with two well-meaning and supposedly enlightened educators –
University of Toronto education professor Michael Fullan and the new
chair of Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (Alice
would have appreciated that name) Charles Pascal. The pair were recently
sharing with the media their newly-found enthusiasm for standardized
tests and encouraging parents to get over “score phobia”.
Fullan, who is the government’s
special advisor on education, praised the mandatory standardized tests
used in the province as being a useful tool for helping children learn.
But I wonder if he really meant what he said. I think what he might have
meant was that they are useful for helping boost kids’ future test
scores.
In fact, both men spoke negatively
about using tests to rank schools, especially without “context”, but
ignored the much more important issue of ranking kids. Standardized
tests or no standardized tests, ranking is one of the foundations of the
school system. And it has nothing to do with helping kids to learn.
Aside from the lack of respect (not to mention the waste of time and
energy) inherent in asking people questions to which you already know
the answers the best way to find out what kids are learning is to listen
to them, or at least talk with them. And here’s an idea: How about
asking them what they think of standardized tests?
Posted: 2005/10/27
3:57 PM
The Legacy of Caring Assessment – October 18,
2005
A few days ago, I spent a remarkable hour with David Booth,
who was my English and drama teacher in grades six
through eight. It was lovely to be able to thank him for the huge
influence he had on me, helping me to explore a broader world of
literature and expression than I had been exposed to by my family…in
effect, helping me find my voice. During a chat about how much public
education has changed due to high stakes testing, I asked him how he had
evaluated us all those years ago. He laughingly said he’d given us all
high marks and went on to describe what energetic and enthusiastic
learners we’d all been, as well as how much he’d learned from us.
That last statement was no small compliment, given how his career
developed over the next 40 years as he became an influential teacher of
teachers, an advocate of childhood literacy, a prolific author and a
sought-after speaker.
Things are different now in public school
classrooms (and in many private and home schools, too). Courses like
drama, art, music, physical education – and even recess in some areas
– have taken a back seat to preparation for standardized tests. There
is an increasing body of research that shows these tests fail to improve
students’ performance on tests like the SAT or their success rates in college/university.
There is also a great deal of research that documents the damage this
fanatical focus on testing does to kids, schools, teachers, the arts and
learning. Being in David’s drama classes in the early 1960s helped me
become the writer, public speaker and advocate that I am today – my
success has nothing to do with teacher evaluation and marks or lack thereof.
Still, policy makers seem fixated on “improving” education with more
tests and punitive measures for those students and teachers who perform
poorly on the tests.
As David Booth understood so early in his
teaching career, there are other, more creative, ways of ensuring
children are having a good educational experience. He knew that there
are far more important measures than success on a test…things like the
patience and passion to sustain interest in a topic, the ability to plan
and organize, to design and carry out research, to work independently,
to ask questions (as well as to answer them), to formulate alternative
solutions or answers and to communicate clearly and persuasively. These
were all goals that Rolf and I had for our daughters’ childhood
learning experiences. And I think most of them were achieved. But even
then, 25 years or so ago, we had to fight with the educational “authorities” for them not to be tested.
If public education is ever to provide all learners
with that kind of learning experience, policy makers will have to stop
taking the regurgitate road. In spite of increasing government pressure
(such as the detestable and grossly mis-named No Child Left Behind act in the U.S.), there are
still some brave educators dedicated to nurturing active learning as opposed to
passive receptivity. David Booth is one.
Alfie Kohn is another who is speaking out against testing. The New York
Performance Standards Consortium, a network of small schools in
New York, is another and they’ve documented their approach on a very useful
website.
Posted: 2005/10/18
1:28 PM
Usurping
People’s Voices – October 10, 2005
Just now, I sent to the printer the files for the November issues both
Life Learning and Natural Life. Changing printers, printing processes
and paper have meant all new procedures at this end, and some delving
into software issues I’d never before experienced. It was a bit
stressful, but I’m sure the result will be worth the extra work and
gray hairs.
Also this past week, I installed my
mother in a nursing home. The way the system works is that the move must
be completed within 24 hours of a space becoming available, so magazine
layout was put abruptly on hold. Aside from that, the experience was
abrupt and unwelcoming. And the first space that is available isn’t
always the best one. In this case, my mother is much more highly
functioning than the other people on her floor. So my advocacy is
clearly not over yet! One of my biggest complaints is the way she is
being infantalized. But I shouldn’t be surprised, because it often
happens – without thought – to children as well, as I recall all too
clearly from when Heidi and Melanie were little. People would ask me
questions about them, when they were standing right beside me, quite
capable of hearing and speaking. In the same way, my mother’s voice is
being usurped now that she can no longer live on her own. Sure, she’s hard of hearing and a bit incapacitated by a stroke, but she can still think, feel and speak for herself, just like my young daughters could.
And like I did then, I refer such questions to the person who can best
respond.
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian
readers.
Posted:
2005/10/10 1:15 PM
What Bullying Says About Respect – October 1,
2005
New research by three Ontario
teacher federations shows that almost 40 percent of teachers and
education workers are subjected to bullying by students. Unless this is
checked, some students will likely grow up to be dominating, aggressive
and violent adults, at huge cost to society, say the Ontario English
Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) and the Ontario Secondary School
Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), which commissioned the research in
conjunction with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.
Bullying
in the Workplace: A Survey of Ontario's Elementary and Secondary School
Teachers and Education Workers reports that part-time teachers (44
percent have been bullied by students), elementary teachers (39 percent,
but 42 percent of public elementary teachers) and women teachers (39
percent) are the most likely to be subjected to student bullying.
Furthermore, the study found that seven percent of teachers and
education workers have been targets of physical violence or assault.
“If teachers and education workers are
affected, so are the bully’s classmates," says Rhonda
Kimberly-Young, president of OSSTF. "Problems that contribute to
bullying behavior are also associated with other disabilities: children
who have difficulty controlling their emotions and resort to aggression
also find it difficult to learn. Students who behave this way are less
skilled problem-solvers, are more likely to have language difficulties
and often fail in school.”
The organizations are calling on faculties of
education, school administrators and school boards, parent and community
groups and governments at all levels to help them to educate parents and
teachers about how to helps kids manage their anger.
What about dealing with the root of the problem –
the hierarchies, coercion and lack of respect ( to mention just a few
causes) in children’s lives? The suggested cure – simply teaching
these kids to control their aggression – seems to be focused on
protecting teachers and other students. But let’s think about a more
radical solution than merely blaming the victim. As the
Bullying Awareness website states: “Everyone has the right to be
respected and the responsibility to respect others.” Coercive,
compulsory education, by its very nature, lacks respect for children, no
matter how respectful and well-intentioned the teachers and other
classroom workers might be. Maybe the solution to bullying of all sorts
(by adults of children, children of children, or children of adults) is
to examine how our society treats children. Has anyone asked the bullies
why they are so angry and aggressive?
Posted: 2005/10/01
10:39 AM
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