The trouble with testing...

As some may have noticed by yesterday's tweet:  "I'm so excited...my 2nd grader will be working on test taking skills and bubble sheets this week /sarcasm/" 

 Some rights reserved by Jason Seliskar

I am less than thrilled with the emphasis that we currently place on standardized testing.  As I learned when I got home, my daughter is also less than pleased.  She is very upset that she will now miss a whole week of team time (which she really enjoys as it includes a great deal of creative work) in favor of test prep.  I think her statement to me nicely sums it up, "she told us how to fill in the bubbles and we practiced, isn't that enough?"

If only it were that simple (or maybe it is and I just have it wrong).


Teaching is a negotiation between teachers and students.  Teachers do all they can to engage children in content that may or may not be interesting to children.  This is the true challenge in teaching, helping students to understand content in meaningful and productive ways.  I am a fan of Daniel Pink's books (particularly A Whole New Mind and Drive) likely because when you read the two you see the inherent contradictions in what we expect from children, how we prepare them, and how we assess them.  Pink talks about the future belonging to the "creative class" because the world is becoming more complex.  It is impossible to  know everything and therefore it is how we use knowledge to solve problems that will be the most valuable skills.  In Drive he expands on this notion by talking about the differences between algorithmic (one correct solution) and heuristic thinking (multiple solutions).  Clearly heuristic thinking is more motivating (it encompasses creative thinking and problem solving), but algorithmic thinking is what we assess...


So every year around this time a usual chain of events occurs...


Teachers are pressured to ensure their students perform well on tests - teachers pressure students (knowingly or unknowingly) -  students lose valuable class time (along with anxiety, sleep, etc) preparing for a test which may or may not be a truly accurate reflection of what they know and can do.  And (if Daniel Pink is right) assesses them on a set of skills that will eventually be irrelevant or obsolete.