As part of class this past week, we spent some time clicking around an online practice test of the Smarter Balance Assessment. I found it nothing exceptional: with the exception of its online format, it struck me as just the same as any of the standardized reading comprehension assessments I took back in high school.
What I find more interesting to consider is how many thinking processes this sort of test doesn't assess. It doesn't test creativity. It doesn't test ability to work with others to share ideas and collaborate. It doesn't test emotional intelligence (i.e. awareness and understanding of both one's own emotions and the emotions of others). It doesn't test fortitude. It doesn't test sense of self and accompanying resistance against conformity. And it doesn't test orientation toward working for the greater good.
I'd say all these qualities taken together play a larger part in determining one's ability to effectively and positively contribute toward our nation and our world than simple reading comprehension. And yet the quality of our entire education system is evaluated based on students' reading comprehension and basic math abilities.
Honestly I can't envision a time in the near future when the public's focus will be drawn away from standardized testing as a method of evaluating effectiveness of education. If anything, we are currently witnessing a cultural shift toward standardized testing. This is mind-boggling: standardized testing is boring, single-dimensional, and confining.
I guess it's up to individual teachers to introduce into their own classes all the dimensions of learning which standardized testing ignores.
Rachel, what a wonderful and insightful post. I totally agree with you, I feel standardized tests really do not account for creativity and other dimensions of learning. I think you summed it up beautifully when you said, "we are currently witnessing a cultural shift towards standardized testing". This disturbs both of us because we recognize that standardized tests can not account for all the various aspects of learning. I just feel that as teachers it's something we will have to come to terms with and adjust to because I do not see this trend changing.
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