Boo. I Hate Tests!
Every month I am required to give a standard common exam to my students. Most of my students are coming out of PYP (Primary Years IB), and in being in grade 6 are experiencing these massive tests for the first time. It is very difficult for me as a teacher to give these tests and I think I dislike them as much as if not more than the majority of my students. I think one of my favorite aspects of working at Charles Dickens in Vancouver was that our “testing” was based on observation, interaction and self-assessments. The students loved to learn, they loved to try new things and they weren’t afraid to take risks. Though I have students in my current system who love learning, it is far more difficult to motivate every student when they are afraid of what a test might say, and as much as I can create a dynamic learning atmosphere with thoughtful questioning and pro-active anecdotal comments, the fact remains I have to give my students a common exam. Here are a few reasons I don’t like standard common exams.
First of all and most importantly, standardized tests measure only certain kinds of knowledge or abilities — arguably the lowest level and least important. They don’t do a great job of measuring higher level thinking skills or creativity, and they say nothing about whether or not students are able to solve real-world problems, let alone whether or not students are willing to read for information or enjoyment.
Secondly, standardized tests cause anxiety–sometimes extreme anxiety—in many test-takers, thus reducing any useful knowledge about their knowledge or abilities. Since we aren’t going to learn useful things about these kids through the scores, why put them through the pain? On top of that, standardized testing causes anxiety for me as a teacher. I didn’t like tests as a student, they caused me no small amount of distress and that feeling is heightened when I have students that are experiencing the same thing.
Thirdly, we know a lot about what learners need – and we should provide those things and then TRUST that learning is happening. Learning is stunted or even stopped by constant or intrusive evaluation. Paraphrasing John Holt, who paraphrased an unnamed father: If a gardener planted carrots and provided the right amounts of minerals and air in the soil, sunlight, and water — but then, in his anxiety over his crop, dug up the baby carrots every day and measured them to make sure they were growing — well, the farmer might not get a crop of carrots at all! If some of the carrots still grew despite all the digging up and replanting, they would probably be smaller and less straight than if the farmer had just let them grow. In the same way, we should provide good learning environments for children, but then trust them and let them grow.
These are only a few of the reasons why I wish I didn’t have to give these tests to my students. One last reason… when I have a student that I know is bright, contributes amazing thoughts in class discussions, but panics and can’t think in a test situation and bombs the test it’s crushing: crushing for the student, and crushing for myself as well.
managingateacherslife 