The questionable utility of STAR testing.

[jon_leonard]

This is the time of year when (in California) students are subjected to standardized tests. While in principle I support standardized testing (how else do we figure out how effective teaching is?), there are some things that bother me about this implementation

Comments

[zathrus]

Well, the SAT and ACT manage to test without being disruptive, by putting the test on Saturday. However, those are voluntary tests, so it's a lot easier to get students to show up for them. Mandatory Saturday testing would probably not work as well.

Testing does take a significant amount of time. My mother is intimately involved in the testing that happens at her school in Georgia -- she's a full-time staff substitute, so she ends up getting assigned to monitor various tests, make sure everything's in good order for sending off to whoever's doing the grading, and often sorting/filing the results when they come back. It just plain takes work. And, while you could probably move the tests to May and still have all the schools in session, with different districts getting out at different times of year, you really can't put it totally at the end of the school year -- besides the fact that schools are typically busy with other things then, like final exams and collecting books.

Newt