Tests give me anxiety. Thinking about creating tests, gives me anxiety. Maybe it’s because I had so many bad experiences with tests, I don’t know. Throughout this program, I’ve been thankful for the heavy emphasis on formative assessments. I even had a recent class in which we spend the entire class discussing authentic assessments and their effectiveness. The time spent discussing and emphasizing the importance of formative assessments gives me hope and has opened my eyes to a way of measuring knowledge in a way that can be successful for most students, relatively speaking.
While I’m grateful that so much time was spent on the dos and don’ts of creating a typical summative, I can’t help but groan when I think about that type of test. I understand students have to have exposure to typical tests, especially in this day of testing, but how much is enough? Could I get away with just giving the ones issued by the county to ensure they’re ready for the darned SOL tests, or do these types of tests need to be regular practice?
I don’t really know what else to say because my mind is spinning with so many questions, the biggest being: if we are moving toward project based learning and have the VQCRT, why are we still talking traditional summatives?
I guess I just fear making a child anxious and giving negative feelings about school through the anxiety one of these traditional tests can cause. I also hate the necessary evil of giving these tests only to ensure the student does well on the SOL. Don’t get me wrong, I want them to do well but I just prefer project based ways of measuring knowledge.
(I’m sorry if these seems a bit jumbled or doesn’t make sense in some areas. I totally get testing to ensure that the students do well on the SOL, I really do. I guess it just finally hit me that while we can do all of these amazing formatives, we still have to teach to a test…to a degree.
I’ll be fine, I promise 😉 )
Hi Sarah,
I get it. I really do. My dissertation advisor used to say that good assessment was a seamless part of instruction and that if done well, kids would just see assessment as an important piece of the learning process. However, for this to occur, you have to have quality assessments. For me in science, that meant performance assessments. I did still have to address content knowledge, and often that was spot-checked with a teacher made assessment. I wasn’t fond of multiple choice, so I liked constructed responses that included drawing diagrams and making concept maps. When I was required to give an exam, I did draw on a variety of forms.
The short answer to the conundrum is yes, we do have to prepare them for high stakes and end of course testing, but it doesn’t need to be done so mechanically and oppressively. I think we can and should do better. However, it’s hard for teachers to think differently when this is all many of them know.
Sarah, I want to address your question: “If we are moving toward project based learning and have the VQCRT, why are we still talking traditional summatives?” The answer to this is because we still value a balanced approach to assessment. It is important for you to continually tell yourself this. Because there is so much emphasis on shifting to performance based these days it feels like that PAs are the only way we are supposed to assess. Even when I talk to my history teachers about PAs I have to remind myself to come back around to the fact that in K-12 education a balanced approach to assessment will always be valued. Only if Socrates and Plato arise from the grave to become the US Secretaries of Education will we then consider PAs for the masses :0). Remember: Think balance…what students know(traditional) and can do (performance).