Testing Testing 1...2...3...

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Testing has become a hot bed issue in education.  These student tests affect the way, districts, cities, states, and countries make decisions about schools.  Teachers are told that there are many ways to assess students, but testing has become the only way that assessments are done for more than mere classroom use.  The main reason given for this is that testing is the only "objective" way to assess students.  That may be so.  Most other forms of assessment do rely upon judgement even with the use of a rubric.  The main problem is that these objective forms of assessment miss so much.

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Students can be taught test taking skills that will make them skilled at taking multiple choice tests.  Other students will struggle to show their deep knowledge of a subject due to their inability to sit and take a test for long periods of time.  Others will lack the reading ability to complete a written math test.  

New forms of testing, including those done online for common core standards, require students to do more than fill in a bubble for each question.  This can lead to even more difficulties.  Many students have not had access to these levels of technology in the classroom.  They may be able to do the math, but they have never graphed a linear equation on a computer.  This causes two different things to be assessed at once students knowledge of the subject matter and students abilities in taking technology based tests.  This is not especially objective either.  

One of the goals of testing is to get an objective baseline for student knowledge.  Testing is the easiest way to gather data, but it does not assess everything a student needs to be successful.  Testing creates problems for some students that accommodations cannot overcome.  More authentic assessments such as project, portfolio or performance based may be less objective, but they are more likely to show to skills and knowledge of the whole child.  

So, how do we use these more effective methods of assessment to compare schools and judge teacher effectiveness and the many other things that standardized testing does now?  No one seems to have a good idea about that.  Hopefully as assessment technology improves and the dialogue opens between test creators and educators a solution can be found.

Technology-Infused Classrooms

http://dailygenius.com/past-present-future-of-education-technology/

Twenty years ago, most classrooms contained at best one teacher computer and a television. Forty years ago, there might have been a movie projector.  Today, the kinds of technology found in an average classroom are varied and numerous.  There is specialized technology designed to help those with special needs, technology designed to help the teacher present knowledge, technology to help monitor behavior and more.  The level of technology is every growing and changing and will likely only increase in the future.                                    

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As any good teacher can explain, simply having technology is not the same as having a technology infused classroom.  Just as having a classroom library does not make students literate, teachers must use the technology as a regular part of classroom learning.  Technology can add flavor and excitement to a variety of classroom experiences.  It can support and enliven nearly any learning topic while also providing students with the skills they need to be prepared for their futures.  

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In order to infuse technology in my classroom, I started by adding technology to every lesson plan.  This often started by having a Smartboard component to every lesson.  This is a great place to start because teachers already use their dry erase or chalk board, so this is not too much of a stretch.  The Smartboard can be used as a simple writing board, but as a teachers skill level grows, they find that the interactive components will smoothly add to any lesson.  From there, I grew frustrated with only having one student interactive at a time.  That is where the individual student computers come into place.  Using the student computers, 6 students, or 12 working in pairs could interact with the technology at once.  Technology can be used in small groups, by individuals, or whole group.  It can be a main component of any portion of a lesson plan.  The point is that it must be used, and students must be actively engaged in its use

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