Testing Addiction

In an article in Ed Week on October 7, 2013 by Marc Tucker, Linda Darling-Hammond, John Jackson they made the following statement. “Americans are addicted to multiple-choice, computer-scored tests, mainly because they are cheap and easy to score.” These tests drive a narrow curriculum rather than a broad 21^st century skills-based curriculum. High scoring countries encourage these broader skills, test less frequently, and use classroom assessment more often.

In the U.S. the incentives to teach the testable skills carry high stakes. For teachers, the tests are high risk as their evaluations and thus their employment depends on them. Yet, there is no evidence around the globe that it is more testing that improves student achievement.

The best minds in education are advocating for balance. Why aren’t we listening to them? 

Assess More?

By that headline, I don’t mean more testing. Heaven knows we have enough of that. What I do mean is better assessment through an understanding and application of Andrew Butler's findings on transfer of learning that comes from repeated practice and routine assessment.

Typically we think learning occurs through studying. We believe that testing simply measures what was studied and learned. Yet, in his own research (http://people.duke.edu/~ab259/pubs/Butler(2010).pdf) and a review of other’s research (http://people.duke.edu/~ab259/pubs/Roediger&Butler(2010).pdf) Butler found that repeated practice and feedback promotes better retrieval and transfer of learning.

 
What this means in the classroom is that frequent assessment is a better predictor of long term retention. The closer to the learning that the assessment occurs, the better it sinks in. And, the more assessment, the greater the benefits, even over time. No one is exactly sure how this happens, but it is being explained by considering the neural networks that are made when the brain makes connections between learning and doing.

What does all this additional assessment look like? We’ll educators for years have been calling it formative assessment. Those brief pauses, reviews and check-ins during learning when students are asked to do something with their learning such as compare it to other things they know, or sort it into categories, or line it up in sequence. Retrieval is the essence of good learning. It’s how today’s learners will use their knowledge and skills in the future. If frequent formative assessment actually deepens students’ knowledge, then let’s do more of it.

Common Core and Classroom Assessment

This is where the proverbial rubber hits the road. Not with a once a year test or an occasional interim measure but rather every day in the classroom. It is the classroom teacher who will be the primary deliverer and assessor of student progress towards the common core on a daily basis.

It is in the classroom that teachers identify individual student’s strengths and learning gaps. It is on a day by day basis that each student makes progress towards the standards. It is throughout teaching and learning that the needs of a whole child can be met. This is where they learn the important social skills that come from collaborating with others on a project. This is where they develop strategies to solve real world problems. This is where they practice with training wheels, not only the common core but the full range of 21^st century skills essential to their success: creativity, digital literacy, cultural understanding, metacognition, personal responsibility and more.

If we spend the next decade deciphering what students are learning in ELA and math, we’re focusing on their heads, but not their hearts and their lives. Teachers, parents, students, and the larger community need to know how our children are doing, every day; not only in ELA and math but also in civic understanding, the scientific inquiry, and career-building skills. It is in the classroom that students will be prepared for the world.

Energy, effort, and time are a major part of the equation for ensuring teacher’s success with classroom assessment of the CCSS. Yet most of the energy, effort, and time are being spent on preparation for large scale tests. It’s time to refocus on teachers and students.