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Poor Teaching for Poor
Kids
Review by Jonathan Pollard
"The
movement toward high stakes testing marks a major retreat
from fairness, accuracy, and educational equity. The misuse of
tests for high stakes purposes has subverted the benefits these tests
can bring. We cannot close the achievement gap until we close the
gap in investment between poor and rich schools. Instead of taking
responsibility as policy makers to invest in improving students' lives,
we place the responsibility squarely on children. It is simply
negligent to force children to pass a test and expect that the poorest
children, who face every disadvantage, will be able to do as well as
those who have every advantage." - Senator Paul Wellstone, in a
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speech delivered to a group of Minnesota
educators on April 4, 2000.
A lot of people
who advocate the high stakes movement and the system's
excessive use of standardized testing claim that they do so in the name
of promoting educational equality. Instead of turning promises of
'bridging the gap' into realities, the high stakes movement has
resulted in poor children falling even further behind their more
economically fortunate counter-parts. Kohn argues that this
statement is true for a number of reasons:
•
Tests may be biased. Many standardized tests include
questions that are more likely to be answered correctly by students who
come from privileged backgrounds. Its crazy for anyone to suggest
that such tests measure what children learn in the classroom, while
neglecting to even consider the possibility that knowledge gained
outside of school is equally relevant on these exams. Children
who come from more affluent families, have educated parents, attend
quality daycare or preschool programs, own computers, travel, or attend
cultural events are far more likely than less affluent children to
possess such outside knowledge.
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•
Test preparation. When the
stakes rise, people will do anything to make sure that their kids
succeed. Scholarships, college admission, and reputation are all
on the line. If the students don't profit from high stakes
testing, many companies certainly do. They have turned the
desperation of parents and students into a
money-making industry. |
Test prep courses, vocabulary boosting
audio tapes, exam-specific tutors. Guess
who can afford these luxuries? Affluent families, schools,
and school districts. The poorer schools are too concerned
with paying for basic educational supplies, like books and other
necessities.
•
Standardized tests are great at ensuring that poor kids become
poor adults.
Standardized tests don't really measure anything important. They
tend to focus on short term memory and actual test-taking ability rather
than genuine understanding. In short, they stunt children's
academic potential by 'dumbing them down'. The more frequently
poor children mindlessly fill in worksheets on command (in an effort to
raise test scores), the more likely they are to fall behind affluent
kids who actually understand ideas and concepts.
•
Funding issues. Rather than spending money for better
teachers, funding goes to test preparation materials. Plus,
affluent schools that are already successful are likely to get
financial bonuses for performing well on exams, while
poor schools that truly need the money
sometimes lose funding due to low test scores.
• Demanding
tougher standards, through offering rewards or
threatening punishments, isn't the remedy.
Some very real factors that effect our schools - such as racism,
poverty, inadequate resources, language barriers, and crime - are being
dismissed as 'excuses'.
• The
teachers that really want to help poor students learn will be
pressured to leave the profession.
This system of punishments and rewards which stresses 'teaching to the
test' will drive some of the most intelligent and idealistic young
teachers out of the profession. Many of the teachers who do
remain will begin to look at low scoring children as detriments, rather
than challenges. The quality of teaching at poor schools will go
from second to third rate.
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