Assessment

Thank you all for your thoughtful input on such an important issue.

While reading today's messages on assessment (separate from accountability) I felt the need to deepen the discussion.

What do we mean by "testing"?

After working on several 'testing' projects for ETS and the California Department of Education, it became very clear to me that a test must be a sampling of the desired knowledge.  There is no way for a test to ask a question about everything we want the learners to have. The California Standards Test (part of STAR) proposes to ask a question about each math standard, but if you look at the standards (such as "Grade 2, algebra and functions 1.1 Use the commutative and associative rules to simplify mental calculations and to check results.") one question will not assess this standard.  If you ask a question that requires the use of both properties and the student misses it, you do not know if they do not understand the commutative property or the associative property. You need at least two questions for this standard. How do you check "mental calculation" on a paper and pencil test?  How do you assess the student "checking the results"?  Or in Grade 4, "Mathematical Reasoning 2.1 Use estimation to verify the reasonableness of calculated results."  The test has to ask one question about computing, and a separate question about estimating.  Are you beginning to see how long just this test must be if we really want to 'test' to see if students are meeting all the standards?

When I am teaching a unit, I plan carefully the learning I intend for each student.  I assess (not test) frequently to see who has it and who needs more learning opportunities (tommorrow, not next year).  

What is the difference between assessment and testing?  Assessment is integrated and seamless with teaching, and informs the teaching in the moment, and over time.  I see it in the students' eyes, in body language, in the questions they ask, in the work they do right then, in the problem solving the following week that gives them an opportunity to apply this learning in a new situation or context, in the homework.  I know more about what my students know, understand and can do by watching and listening than I will ever know from a test, especially a test so separate from the learning process.  There should be a way for this 'front line' information about student learning to be factored into the state wide assessment system.  If you want student learning to increase, invest in this type of assessment that informs instruction for the students in the classroom this year, rather than only relying on a test at the end of the year which does not impact or improve the learning opportunities for that child.

The 'end of the year test" (STAR) is one moment in time affected by hunger, family problems, not yet proficient in English (especially the English on a standardized test), lack of sleep, fatigue from days of test prep and then testing (CABE and STAR occupy three weeks of school time).  It is a sampling of learning and it tells us something, BUT it does not tell us everything we want to know.  Just as a mathematical average gives us an indication, it also hides a great deal of infomation (high? low? range? outliers?)  If a doctor takes your temperature, it gives some information, it may indicate something is wrong but that is all it indicates.  The doctor must go much further to make a diagnosis.

Suggestions:
*Broaden assessment and acountability to include the assessment done by classroom teachers on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.
*Acknowledge and work from the premise that standardized tests give us some information, but it is limited information.  It indicates but it does not diagnose.  It is a sampling, not comprehensive.
*Put more energy and resources behind classroom assessments that impact and immediately improve/increase the learning of students.
Incorporate long range assessments:  How do the children from this elementary school do in middle school?  How do this high school students do in work, community college, university, military?  Are we preparing them well for the next step, not for a test.  The California Master Plan is a long range document, let's set long goals, not 'end of the year' goals.