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PAY ATTENTION!There is going to be a
test.
Standardized Testsand Education Reform
Keith Clay, GRCC
Our love of tests, part I
“Are we going to be tested on this?”
An inservice teacher at a biotechnology workshop at UC San
Francisco
Our love of tests: Part II
Check the web.
The WASL is:“stupid”“evil”“AWFL”“child abuse”“terrorism”
Tests and Education Reform
Why Standardized Tests?The Art and Science of TestingThe state of WashingtonDo tests help with education reform?Do education reforms help on the tests?
Why standardized tests?
Some critics argue that “High-Stakes Testing” is just a bad idea…
…but it’s not…
…It’s the law.
Why standardized tests?
Assessment of curricula Core Knowledge? FOSS? PBI?
Assessment of systems Seattle School District? Mrs. Nelson’s
class?
Assessment of individuals Formative? Summative? Instructive?
Assessment of Curricula
Designcurriculum
Identifygoals
Designassessment
Administerassessment
Analyzeresults
Assessment of systems
Identify substandard schoolsIdentify outstanding schools
Then what? Allow students to leave weak schools? Financially reward low performance?
Assessment of individuals
“Formative” or “Diagnostic” Identify strengths and weaknesses Construct strategies for improvement
“Summative” or “Evaluative” Grades Graduation Requirement
10th Grade WASL in 2008 (5th graders now)
Summative Eval Question:
“Should a PhD historian be able to pass a state physics test without ever taking a physics class?”
Bernie Khoury, AAPTShould a “state physics test” be physics content free?Should a PhD historian be allowed to graduate from high school?
Assessment as Teaching Tool
“Instructive” or “reflective” assessmentStudents study the results of their own assessment throughout learningWhite and Frederiksen, 2000 “Inquiry + reflective assessment”
produced better results than “Inquiry + discussion”
Differences were greatest for weakest students and hardest material
Design of assessment tools:
Curriculum assessment probes for “student averaged” content weaknessesSystems assessment probes “student and content averaged” weaknessesIndividual summative tests probe for “content averaged” weaknessIndividual formative tests probe for specific content and student weakness
High-Stakes Assessment:
NCLB mandated assessments often try to do all four things at once.Nat’l Assessment of Educ. Progress (NAEP) is “high-bandwidth, low-fidelity.”“Measurement at the level of individual students is poor.” NRC, Knowing What Students Know, 2001
The art and science of testing
THE ASSESSMENT TRIANGLE (KWSK, 2001)
Cognitionmodel
Observation Interpretation
The art and science of testing
Psychometrics:For statistical analysis, correct responses (cr) must outnumber random chance (rp)Usual requirement: cr > 2 rp A,B,C,D choice, cr > 50% A,B,C,D,E choice, cr > 40% Open ended: Average > 40% to 50%
The art and science of testing
Compromises: Can we get 40% correct?Q: Throw a ball straight up into the air and it
comes back down to your hand. Define “up” to be the “positive direction.” When the ball is at the maximum height, is has an acceleration of:A) 9.8 m/s2 D) -4.9 m/s2
B) -9.8 m/s2 E) zeroC) 4.9 m/s2
Most students choose E, so psychometricians suggest removing it from the list of options.
Can we get 40% correct, if…
We frame the same question but ask…1) …at maximum height, is has a velocity of:
A) 9.8 m/s D) -4.9 m/sB) -9.8 m/s E) zeroC) 4.9 m/s
2) …at max. height, is has an acceleration of:A) 9.8 m/s2 D) -4.9 m/s2
B) -9.8 m/s2 E) zeroC) 4.9 m/s2
40% of students get #2 right if asked #1 first.
The state of Washington:
EALR, WASL, SCIF, SALT, and OIAsEALR: Ess. Acad. Learning RequirementWASL: Wa. Assess’t of Student LearningSCIF: Science Curr. Instr. Frameworks (they write the EALRs)SALT: Sci. Assess’t Leadership Team (They write the WASL)OIAs: Other Important Acronyms
The state of Washington:
SCIF and SALT talk to each other (this is unusual)Aligned on content and level (Bloom)From SCIF: EALR and Nat’l Standards alignment document in progressFrom SALT: content specialists may override psychometricians
The state of Washington:K8 Science according to SCIF and SALT:
SYSTEMS:
Ecosystems,Circuits,Rock cycle,Nerves…
Rockets,Solar system,Spiders…
INQUIRY
DESIGN
30%
40%
30%
Do tests help education reform?
“Whereas teaching directly to the items on a test is not desirable, teaching to the theory of cognition and learning that underlies a test can provide a positive direction for instruction.”
NRC, Knowing What Students Know, 2001
Do tests help education reform?
“Large-scale standardized assessments can communicate across time and place, but by so constraining the content and timeliness of the message that they often have limited utility in the classroom.”
NRC, Knowing What Students Know, 2001
Do tests help education reform?
The Frame and the TapestryThompson and Zeuli, 1999
Michigan Educ. Assessm’t Prog. (MEAP)MEAP has both goals and assessmentsMost local school districts aligned their curricula with MEAP and NSES
Do tests help education reform?
“…considering how deep-seated most teachers’ ideas are about subject matter, teaching, and learning, one would not expect these… substantially aligned documents to produce conceptually transformative teacher learning on a broad scale. Our classroom-level research confirms that they have not.”
Thompson and Zeuli, 1999
Does reform help the tests?
Education reform for teachers is a necessary precondition for success
“It is now widely accepted that in order to realize recently proposed reforms in what is taught and how it is taught in math and science, teachers will have to unlearn much of what they believe, know, and know how to do, while also forming new beliefs, developing new knowledge, and mastering new skills.”
Thompson and Zeuli, 1999
Teaching reform requires…
For teachers: Cognitive dissonance Time for reflection Connection with their classrooms A repertoire of techniques Continuing support
For the system: A scalable, sustainable process
Thompson and Zeuli, 1999
How long will this take?
“This is a generation-long process.”
Pinky Nelson, WWU & Project 2061
