How-to-Study Blog » standardized tests http://www.how-to-study.com/blog Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:30:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 On Scoring Standardized Tests http://www.how-to-study.com/blog/126/on-scoring-standardized-tests http://www.how-to-study.com/blog/126/on-scoring-standardized-tests#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:06:20 +0000 admin http://www.how-to-study.com/blog/?p=126 There is increasing emphasis on using standardized tests to assess student progress. Most of these tests include open-ended items that require students to write responses using their own thoughts and words. The responses are typically scored on a 5-point or 6-point scale.

In a recent New York Times column (9/28/09), Todd Farley opined that the problem here is not with the tests as much as it with the test scorers. Farley related his experiences scoring state tests for testing companies. Farley pointed out the reality that open-ended items are scored by subjective humans who are prone to errors. He concluded that the score a student earned depended to some extent on which scorer viewed his or response.

Farley proposed that scoring be done only by professionals who have made a commitment to education, rather than by part-timers such as he was. This is the case in some circumstances. It should be the universal case.

In a humorous addition to the article, Tucker Nichols proposed some rules for scorers. These included adding one point if you suspect the student dresses well, and adding three points if you are hungry. He was joking, wasn’t he?

]]> http://www.how-to-study.com/blog/126/on-scoring-standardized-tests/feed 0 Teacher Pay and Student Achievement http://www.how-to-study.com/blog/88/teacher-pay-and-student-achievement http://www.how-to-study.com/blog/88/teacher-pay-and-student-achievement#comments Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:39:17 +0000 admin http://www.how-to-study.com/blog/?p=88 There is an increasing federal trend to attempt to have school districts link teacher salaries and merit awards to student achievement on standardized tests. On the one hand, this appears reasonable. Like any professionals, teachers should be held accountable for their effectiveness. Student achievement seems to be a logical benchmark. On the other hand, the same student is often taught by more than one teacher. How can we parcel out the contributions to achievement in this case? Further, standardized achievement tests are far from perfect indicators of what students learn. They tend to be narrow in focus, and value rote recall rather than insight and deep learning. There is also the accompanying pressure on teachers to teach specifically to what standardized tests measure. This issue has been a major issue for a number of years now. What are your thoughts?

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