Smarter Balanced Assessment: Pro or Con? Smarter Balanced Assessment, who is it truly assessing, the teachers or the students? Smarter Balanced testing contributes to the teacher’s performance, but is it beneficial or does it have unintended consequences? Students are ultimately grading the teachers by taking these tests and they are not even aware of it. The disadvantages may outweigh the benefits for this topic, but teachers must look past the disadvantages and do what they were meant to do, teach. The Smarter Balanced Assessment tool was put in place to see the progress of the school and the impact the teachers were having on the students. One of the main benefits is the fact that there is clear data to determine the impact the teacher is having on the student. If the teacher is doing a good job at explaining and teaching the material then the student’s scores should reflect it. The data gained from the test also helps the teachers realize what subject may be a problem area for his or her students. This is a benefit that would significantly help the students. Without it students may be struggling with a topic and the teachers are not even aware. By looking at the scores and talking with the previous teachers they can determine what might be the best way to teach the students. This leads to the next benefit, teachers can begin a new year knowing how much each student already knows. Knowing where each student lies is beneficial because the teacher is then able to focus
Classroom assessment and grading practices have the potential not only to measure and report learning but also to promote it. Indeed, recent research has documented the benefits of regular use of diagnostic and formative assessments as feedback for learning (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam,
Discussion Post- Chapter 7- High stakes testing Claim: High stakes testing is an extremely problematic political issue within the education system because it holds all students to the same standards regardless of disabilities or disadvantages , it encourages educators to teach strictly on information that relates to the tests, and it can have major consequences for schools across the country that are unable to make Adequete Yearly Progress (AYP). Evidence: The Learning to Teach Edition Nine textbook outlines key disadvantages to high stakes testing. Although the textbook does consider some of the advantages, which include a focus of attention on the achievement of students and providing information on areas where students may need to improve,
Proponents see standardized testing as a way of making testing more efficient and effective by minimizing cost and increasing people’s accountability for their performance in the system. Opponents on the other hand argue that the systems has limitations based on its very nature on what can be tested and as a result of these standards needing to be met sacrifice some very important aspects of students education experience as well as force onto students and teachers a one size fits all model that has failed to deliver on its promises. After having reviewed all the evidence in detail it becomes clear to me that standardized testing is not an effective system for educating students and does more bad than good
Educators worried that Common Core assessment in the classroom would take away from instructional time for students. Teachers also wondered if in early education, children would be tested like older children through pencil/paper or computer-driven assessment. Another point brought out by teachers was if results of Common Core assessment would be used for high-stakes including accountability systems for teachers and programs. Lastly, there was the question of whether or not decisions about students, mainly retention in grade, may be based solely on the results of Common Core assessments. To answer these questions, Common Core researchers reminded teachers that assessment is an ongoing process and in order to improve teaching and learning, teachers must continually engage in assessment for the purpose of improving teaching and learning.
There are also much better ways to test a student’s capability to learn; a 2006 Center on Education Policy conducted a study and found that a curriculum that follows state standards and uses the test data as feedback led to higher scores than those that prioritized test-taking skills. When teachers are more focused on teaching material rather than test strategies, their students benefit from it (“Do Standardized Tests Show an Accurate View of Students’ Abilities?”). Several alternative methods to state assessments for measuring a student’s academic success include comparing high school graduation rates and the number of dropouts, offering advanced placement courses, and looking at the percentage of the former students that are admitted to colleges. State assessments are more harmful than helpful to students; they are a large cause of test anxiety and a majority of teachers can never fully prepare their students. Although state assessments are an easy way to be able to see the growth of students, that does not mean that they are the best
This is a fairly short video about Smarter Balanced Assessment. Smarter Balanced assessment is a computer generated assessment that uses both multiple choice, short, and long essay questions. The Smarter Balanced Assessment includes longer performance based tasks that can happen over a longer period of time. Scoring for Smarter Balanced is either completed by the computer or teachers that are trained and calibrated (which means that each scorer will come up with the same score).
There are so many results for a single test that does not even evaluate a student’s knowledge accurately. A single bad day could be disastrous to a student’s career, and a day of lucky guessing can float them by another year. Teachers are “graded” on their class’s results, so if a teacher’s class does poorly, that teacher may have an intervention coming.[PP1] Some people have even advocated for teachers’ pay and job security to be based upon the results of testing(“High-Stakes Test Definition”). Schools are given “grades” as well, and funding is based on them.
Meredith Broussard explains how standardized testing does not prove a child’s general knowledge nor creative in-depth thinking by stating, “Standardized tests are not based on general knowledge... they are based on specific knowledge contained in specific sets of books: the textbooks created by the test makers” (Broussard). Miner also states that standardized testing, “... leads to a dumbed-down curriculum that values rote memorization over in-depth thinking, exacerbates inequities for low-income students and students of color, and undermines true accountability among schools, parents, and community” (Miner). The assessment of a child should encourage a child to want to learn for the sake of learning. Alternative assessments could address a child’s development and learning process. These evaluations can determine why children are more likely to read behind grade level, instead of highlighting their inabilities.
The growing minds of scholars in elementary, middle and high school should be exposed to a more creative system of measuring education. When reflecting on the current state of testing, John Holt states, “And so, in this dull and ugly place, where nobody ever says anything very truthful, where everybody is playing a kind of role, as in a charade, where teachers are no more free to respond honestly to the students than the students are free to respond to the teachers or each other” (E) This reflection on America’s education system represents the controlling and ineffective tactics. Students and teachers have confirmed to an unnatural fruitless environment including standardized testing. This demonstrates the effects of attention away from the needs of an individual. Secondly, on a design for a book about how to prepare kinder gated students for standardized testing, it shows images of pencils, clocks and a slip of paper including four answer bubbles.
Students need assessment that is balanced between what they already know, and what teachers want them to know. Rather than a test with the same questions, even if the questions are leveled differently for all students, the questions should address where a student is struggling, so that each and every American schoolchild would have the chance to reach their full
In conclusion, standardized testing should not be mandatory. It should not be used to evaluate teachers either due to the fact that their students may or may not be able to take a test without test anxiety, Furthermore, a standard test does not test one’s knowledge on what they are being taught on their schools because it is a standard test given to everyone. Standardized tests do more harm than help our
I. Students average 20-25 hours a year taking standardized testing, according to a study completed by the Council of Great City Schools. II. This testing is used for a variety of things, all of which affect the way we are educated. III. Through my research on testing, I have found that the tests that we have all sat through are not as accurate as one may think.
I incorporate this learned experience daily and learn through each success and discovered area of improvement. Addressing my students needs using a variety of assessment tools has been a beneficial practice to help guide instruction. Students have different learning styles and their strengths and weaknesses are not always apparent using the same methods of assessment. Utilizing formative, standards(goal)-based, anecdotal, observational and benchmarks has driven my instructional programs. The combination of different assessments provides me with a multi-dynamic perspective of my students allowing me to better understand their strengths, weakness and academic needs.
Allowing students to evaluate their teachers, will give teachers an incentive to improve on their teaching skills. If teachers know that they are going to be evaluated by their students, they will begin to work twice as hard due to the incentives given to them. For example, a teacher who is lazy and enthusiastic about their job will come to the realization that if they don’t step up their game, they can be terminated and replaced. Essentially, this will lead to students receiving a higher quality of education. As a result,
This is not a good thing for the teachers themselves. If they are IB teachers, this demonstrates that they have not been teaching correctly and they will graded upon their students learning and