Quote:
Originally posted by Not Bob
I agree with you on math -- it is relatively easy to come up with a standardized test for math. But it's not so easy to come up with a standardized test for reading comprehension, and even more not so easy to come up with one for writing.
And who is creating these tests? And grading them? My sister the teacher got all hostile with me about this very issue -- according to a newspaper she emailed me, her state farmed out the grading of writing tests to temps, many of whom turned out not to have the credentials that the testing company hired by the state said they had. She pointed out the campaign contributions paid by the testing companies to the state politicians, noted that the testing companies often sell textbooks that tie into the tests, and was furious about the double-dipping. As she put it, cheating on the qualifications of the test-graders was just adding insult to injury.
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Your post seems to state that we need to put together good tests and grade them with quality people. Who would argue with that? But it doesn't seem to argue against testing.
If people are against testing, how else do we find if the teachers are doing their jobs? How else do we improve our schools? You can't be sure anything is working unless you have a way of measuring the success. Without testing what can we do to figure out what is working what is not? How do we insure our schools are doing their jobs.
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