69ý

Federal

Not All Teachers Keen on Periodic Tests

By Lynn Olson — November 29, 2005 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL
BRIC ARCHIVE

John W. Hutcheson now teaches in a private Montessori school in Sammamish, Wash., after spending 25 years teaching in the Dallas school district. Looking back, he says the Texas district’s thrice-yearly benchmark assessments helped drive him out.

“The benchmarks themselves are a reflection of the standardized exams,” Mr. Hutcheson said, “which are only a small piece of learning. You progressively keep narrowing the curriculum down, so we end up preparing students for a world that doesn’t exist.”

Across the country, school districts are adopting benchmark assessments to help teachers modify instruction over the course of a school year. Yet many teachers remain wary. Like Mr. Hutcheson, they say their experience with such tests has been anything but positive.

Silas Bender, a 3rd graders at London Towne Elementary School in Centreville, Va., takes a benchmark test.

In Philadelphia, a social studies teacher who asked not to be named said he found the use of benchmark assessments there “incredibly restricting and unrealistic.”

As part of a core high school curriculum, the 214,000-student school system uses a program involving multiple-choice tests given every six weeks, with immediate feedback to teachers and schools via a Web-based system of data analysis and reporting. The district describes the new standardized, college-preparatory curriculum and the related system of assessments as a critical element of its plan to improve secondary education. (“For-Profit Writes Mandatory Courses for Phila. High 69ý,” Feb. 9, 2005.)

“69ý found them totally meaningless and very intrusive, because it was another interruption, in addition to all the other testing,” he said.

Mr. Hutcheson also complained of the time and stress associated with the tests used in Dallas. “We would spend entire afternoons analyzing benchmark results,” he said. “The district, every time the kids took the test, would print up a thorough record of how many answers they missed, the answers they put down, a list of subskills to be worked on, and a complete analysis of each test.”

Dallas school officials were unable to comment by press time.

Some districts have reported impressive results using similar methods.

When the Norfolk, Va., school district walked away with the $500,000 Broad Prize in Urban Education this year, it was largely on the strength of its gains in reading and math scores and its progress in closing racial and ethnic achievement gaps. Officials there pointed to the strong focus on data-driven instruction as one key to the district’s success.

The 36,700-student district requires quarterly benchmark assessments in all grades. Ninety percent of Norfolk’s schools also have developed common assessments that teachers give monthly. And teachers regularly meet in “data teams” to review the data, draw up common plans, and adjust instruction.

View a complete collection of stories in this Education Week special report, Testing Takes Off.

Over the past several years, the 12,000-student Santa Monica, Calif., school district has used a mix of teacher-designed tests and assessments linked to its adopted textbooks at the elementary school level. This year, secondary school teachers are meeting in departmental teams across sites to develop what the district is calling formative assessments in English, mathematics, science, and social studies that they’ll agree to give in common about three times a year.

“These are for teachers to really help guide their instruction,” said Maureen L. Bradford, the district’s director of educational services. “We feel like there probably isn’t something off the shelf that’s going to work for us; that teachers really need to come to one mind about what’s important to teach, and when to teach it and how to assess it appropriately. It’s a tremendous amount of work.”

Carol Jago, who chairs the English department at Santa Monica High School, praised the approach the school system is taking to developing the tests. “I hope we’re going to end up with essays or something that’s really authentic,” she said.

Still, Ms. Jago is worried.

“Inevitably, any time you try to institutionalize it, it becomes one more summative assessment that just happens before the state assessment,” she said, referring to a test given after teaching in the subject is completed. “So it’s right-headed, but I don’t think it’s something you can actually do properly because of the nature of the beast.”

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in 69ý
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Federal Video Linda McMahon: 5 Things to Know About Trump's Choice for Education Secretary
President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate former pro-wrestling CEO Linda McMahon to lead the education department.
1 min read
Federal The K-12 World Reacts to Linda McMahon, Trump's Choice for Education Secretary
Some question her lack of experience in education, while supporters say her business background is a major asset.
7 min read
Linda McMahon, former Administrator of Small Business Administration, speaks during the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee.
Linda McMahon speaks during the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. McMahon has been selected by President-elect Trump to serve as as the next secretary of education.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Federal What a National School Choice Program Under President Trump Might Look Like
School choice advocates—and detractors—see a second Trump term as the biggest opportunity in decades for choice at the federal level.
8 min read
President Donald Trump listens during a "National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America's 69ý," event in the East Room of the White House, on July 7, 2020, in Washington.
President Donald Trump listens during a "National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America's 69ý," event in the East Room of the White House on July 7, 2020, in Washington. He returns to power with more momentum than ever behind policies that allow public dollars to pay for private school education.
Alex Brandon/AP
Federal 5 Things to Know About Linda McMahon, Trump's Pick for Education Secretary
President-elect Donald Trump’s selection, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment has long spoken favorably about school choice.
7 min read
Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington on Oct. 3, 2018.
Linda McMahon speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington on Oct. 3, 2018, when she was serving as head of the Small Business Administration during President Trump's first administration. McMahon is now President-elect Trump's choice for U.S. secretary of education.
Susan Walsh/AP