Modules 38 and 40

I found the readings about assessment and testing to be pretty interesting because I have written numerous papers on how standardized testing is hurting the American School System. It was interesting to learn about what makes a test valid and I really liked reading how there is formative assessment which I think is great. I think it is great to know what the students know already or how well they are understanding as the instruction goes on. I agree with Popham saying, "any teacher who uses tests dominantly to determine whether students get high or low grades should receive a solid F in classroom assessment" because I think that tests should be used to see what a student knows and then be able to adjust lessons in order to make them easier to understand or know if that subject can be covered quickly due to an entire class understanding it already. It was also interesting to read about how the tests can be referenced in different ways. They can be compared to scores of other students or they can be compared to pre-set standards of performance and it depends on the test and what is trying to be assessed to know what type of reference should be used.

Reading about the reliability I had to laugh to myself a bit because I have never felt that standardized tests were all that reliable. I know that during my time in school there were many students who were extremely bright but they did not care about the standardized tests since it didn't mean anything for their grade, graduation, or college admission. They would just make designs in the bubble sheet or draw happy faces all over the test. However, the book also points out different reasons for why the tests may not be reliable that I found very interesting. It talks about how questions may be presented in a way that is biased and I had never thought of this before. It makes sense that some questions may be worded in a way that would be familiar to the majority of the students but may not be comprehensible for students who come from a culturally or socio-economically different background.

I was slightly disappointed to see a chapter that was primarily about statistics as it is my least favorite subject in the world, however, I found it interesting the way that it shows how to interpret the standardized test reports. I know that I received many of those as a student and I knew the basis of what they meant but I never new exactly how to read them. What I really liked in this chapter though was the ten ways for using high-stakes testing well. Primarily I liked number ten which was "Use test results for children, not against them"! To me this is again what I was talking about in my first paragraph where it was talking about using formative assessment to find out how well they already know the material or how they are understanding it! I believe that standardized test scores should not be used to punish schools, teachers, and students. Rather they should be used to find out where more assistance is needed and in what subjects more focus is required!