While interning at my practicum placement and attending graduate educational courses, standardized assessment is a topic that is always discussed. Administrators and teachers are constantly worrying about their students reaching the “proficient” or “advanced” level. And yes, I have to say that in some ways, knowing that we are reliable for our students scores on these standardized tests is a push for us to become better teachers and apply various methods in our classrooms. However, I have noticed that the stress that comes with standardized testing is always the big elephant in the room either during professionally development meetings or within the classroom. As teachers, we all know that we need to help our students do better on these tests; however, we merely express the stress that comes with knowing that our job depends on them. Others might think that helping our students do well is just as simple as teaching our students, but they are not aware of what that consist of.
As Dianne Ravitch stated in her interview, not all the students are the same. The same standardized tests that worked for one student may have had not worked for another. Each student has a different educational and culture background that might not be reflective within the standardized assessments.
My Question is, what other types of assessment are best at assessing students growth while taking in their educational and cultural background?
~ Paola
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