A poll for the teachers on my lj

[shadowkat]

I'm not a teacher. I've known teachers. And I've had some excellent teachers and some horrid ones. At any rate, the poll below is some questions I've spontaneously come up with late tonight, when I should be asleep...

They were in an odd way prompted by an episode of Everybody Hates Chris that brought back some funky memories. I thought a poll might work better here than a meme.


[Poll #980684]

Comments

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

So what are your thoughts on standardised tests? They aren’t much used to determine university entrance in the UK except for medicine although there’s been talk of introducing them in the hope that they might be less biased towards white middle class applicants than the current essay/problem based exams. I’m dubious – I suspect it’s as easy to coach people to pass multiple choice tests as any other kind.

I clicked ‘other’ for the question on the definition of dyslexia. As I understand it, most of the features listed can be shown in various combinations by people with dyslexia but the definition is any learning disability that specifically impairs a person’s ability to read relative to other skills. We have one or two students officially diagnosed with dyslexia in most years. They get extra time for exams in a special room, some have been allowed access to word processors. Those I’ve been tutor to have been quite pro-active about various strategies they’ve learnt to work around the ‘disability,’ one woman was significantly better organised than any of my ‘neurotypical’ tutees.

The aspect of my job that I enjoy most is doing the research rather than presenting or publishing it but discussing the ideas is part of that.

Standardized Tests

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

So what are your thoughts on standardised tests?

One of my favorite jokes in BTVS occurred at the very beginning of Lover's Walk and to get the joke you almost had to see Angel and the fourth season of Buffy.

At the beginning of the episode - the results on the SAT tests come back, the ones Buffy had been studying for in the previous episode - which are joked about. She barely studies, and basically thinks can we just pick them at random?

Anyhow the two people in the episode that get the highest test scores are well the two people in the series as whole who aren't brain or book smart.
Cordy and Buffy. Our valley gals. Xander who is the only character who goes on to get a paying job, makes money, and runs a business - gets the worste scores, Willow who is a bonified brain, scores are disappointing.

This is actually realistic of SAT's. I am admittedly biased. For a couple of reasons - the tests are given on computer sheets and timed, I would end up invariably filling in the wrong computer circle on the wrong line. To take the test, I had to use the edge of a piece of paper (they don't permit rulers - or didn't when I took them) as ruler to keep track of where I was. Often I found myself having to erase a page and refill in my answers because I unknowingly skipped a line. This took time. As a result my scores were always low - not because I didn't know the information or the answers but because I filled in the wrong lines on the answer sheet.
I've met people who were test brilliantly on these tests, but find analyzing Buffy impossible or couldn't tell you what happened in the Great Gatsby. There are classes - Princeton Review and Kaplan which teach kids how to take the tests. I took Kaplan for the LSAT, which helped a bit.

My take? If you have to take Kaplan or Princeton Review in order to figure out how to take a test - then there is something seriously wrong with the test.

So what to do?

I don't know. When I applied to colleges, the one that I went to did not place a great deal of importance on SAT scores - they were more interested in how you responded to the application - which included two essays on two different topics, as well as extracurricular activities, grades in high school. The biggest weight was placed on the essays. The two I wrote - were : my cultural experience in France with a French family one summer, andan argument that civil war was fought for economic reasons and was not about slavery. I got in. And the tests I took at that college were essay except for two classes - which I did horrid in, because they used the dreaded computer sheets and multiple choice. Also, all the classes were discussion, reports, and had no more than 30 people, most had 15-20 if that. And our finals? Papers, written reports.

So, long story short?

I think standardized tests are for the birds and aren't worth the paper they are written on. When someone tells me that they were a National Merit Scholar and this means they are brilliant. I laugh at them. I don't consider a computerized test a good way of testing someone's knowledge. An essay test? Yes. Again, I'm biased. But if I were Queen, I'd do away with them.