Abstract:

Ferriter describes how, even with his reliance on multiple measures for his own effective teaching, he finds himself pulled to weigh his success by his students' standardized test scores. He asks, is there a better way? Should there be?

Ferriter, B. (2005). In testing we trust. Teacher Leaders Network diaries. Retrieved from the Teacher Leaders Network 8 Apr 2008. Link: http://www.teacherleaders.org/old_site/diaries04_05/other/BF04_04_05.htm...

Full Text:

In Testing We Trust!

I made myself pause today. I was talking with my Assistant Principal when I said, "I can't wait to see what our end-of-grade test scores are this year! I'll bet we're doing a great job with our kids."

I caught myself and was immediately embarrassed. After all, I am the teacher leader who constantly argues that educators deserve professional respect for the work that they do. I adamantly believe that the best feedback on student performance comes from classroom teachers and am confident in our abilities to "accurately measure" student strengths and weaknesses.

In my own classroom, I spend hundreds of hours collecting evidence of student abilities in formal and informal ways. I watch children reason and write every day. I see progress from assignment to assignment and from month to month. I diagnose weaknesses and target instruction that is appropriate and timely. And yet...

I'm waiting for end of grade test scores to see if I'm "doing a great job with my kids."

The innocence of my comment scares me. It was made with little intention but speaks volumes about teaching and learning in America. Either my convictions about teacher professionalism are not as strong as I thought, or testing has become such a part of schooling that even accomplished teachers assume that they are valid indicators of achievement.

What is even more disconcerting is that the general public places the same blind faith in testing. While poll after poll show that teachers command great respect from the community at large, the professional judgment of teachers is not enough when measuring student success. How else has testing become so prevalent in America?

I can remember a parent conference not long ago with a mother who wanted feedback about her child's reading ability. Her son was a favorite of mine, and I was quite aware of his strengths and weaknesses. It was late in the school year and end-of-grade scores had just come back to our school. I knew how he had done but was not allowed to release his results yet.

After spending 30 minutes sharing my thoughts and backing them up with evidence from classroom assessments, his mother simply asked, "Yes, but what does the test say?"

What does "the test" say? Do the results of a single, isolated measure of performance really represent a child's abilities? Is this one assessment somehow more valid than the thousands of pieces of data that teachers collect on each child? Can we fairly judge the growth of our students and our schools over an entire year in such a simplistic manner?

Isn't there a better way to find out what students know and can do?

Shouldn't there be?

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