“The
one size fits all approach to standardized testing is convenient, but
lazy”
-- James Dyson
By
Tommie Saylor
Kennedy
High School Principal
I
believe we have a perception problem with the current State-mandated testing
practices, along with the public’s understanding of what the published scores
really mean.
For
the most part, the common person believes that the MME test given to juniors in
the State of Michigan every year, is a basic skills test. With this understanding,
the public is shocked and angered when the test scores show that only about
half of our students demonstrated proficiency. The public is thinking
basic skills. They are thinking “4 + 5 = 9.” The reality is our students are
facing algebraic manipulations such as summation notation (summation notation
is used to define the definite integral of a continuous function (f(i)) of one
variable on a closed interval). Because of this “communication gap,” the
public is lead to believe that our schools are failing and that our students
lack the most basic skills necessary to become productive citizens in our
society.
Thus
there is a negative perception about our “failing public school system.”
The
reality is that the mandated tests are college readiness tests designed to
evaluate a student’s preparedness to enter the collegiate world. Though
we hope that every student who graduates from high school is college ready,
let’s be honest: Not every student is “college material. “
This
isn’t always their fault. Some people just are not predisposed to sitting in a
classroom discussing theory and philosophy, yet have talents in other
areas. According to recent studies, only about a third of our adult
population holds a four-year college degree or above, and therefore we should
not be surprised to learn that only about half of our students show proficiency
on a college readiness test.
In
my book, we are still well above the curve. Half is greater than a third, thus
we are graduating more students prepared for college than the national average
of adults who hold a college degree. That sounds like success to me!
The
failure is not in our school’s ability to prepare students for the “real world,”
it is in our political leaders’ interpretation of the results, and in the
media’s propagation of this negative interpretation. I believe that the
public would be better served if we report three separate scores to show our
students level of proficiency on three separate, yet critical areas:
Basic Skills, Job Readiness, and College Readiness.
Day
one of testing should be basic skills where basic reading, writing and
mathematics are tested. On this test I would expect more than 90 percent
of our students demonstrate proficiency.
On
day two of testing, we should continue with the Work Keys test, where students
are evaluated on their employability skills. Once again I would expect a
vast majority of our students to be proficient in this category, 80 percent or
above.
Finally,
on day three, a college readiness test should be given, be it ACT or SAT, where
I would expect someplace around 50 percent or more of our students showing
proficiency. With this, each school would be given three scores: Basic
Skills, Job Readiness, and College Readiness. This would eliminate the
ambiguity and perception issues now faced in our current model.
This
would also keep the “high stakes” testing cycle down to only three days of
intense testing, as opposed to the current model where students are being
tested for almost two full weeks.
If
you agree and believe that two weeks of intense testing where students must
work through waves of mental fatigue is not conducive to the educational
process, contact your state leaders in Lansing and let them know that our
current testing model is not good for kids and parents.
Tell
them that the color system currently being utilized, a math amalgamation of
multiple test scores represented by Yellow, Orange, even Purple, is meaningless
to most people. And tell them that the public wants to know in a simple,
easy-to-understand format the level of student proficiency in Basic Skills, Job
Readiness and College Readiness.
What
starts here, changes the world. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence
by design….
