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Frankly I hadn't heard about this and I'm wondering if it is even an option in my district but I guess nobody can force our kids to take a test if parents don't want them to. Do you have any experience of thoughts on this?
No. While I think standardized testing is over utilized and over emphasized, the fact is it is a significant part of our children's education experience and there is validity to them being familiar and comfortable taking these tests. I believe shielding them will ultimately be more harmful than helpful.
Do you want the SAT or ACT to be their first experience with standardized testing?
Last edited by maciesmom; 09-08-2013 at 07:42 PM..
I wouldn't opt out, personally. I want my kids' school to get the funding it needs, and having the kids take the tests is part of that.
I do think there is way too much emphasis on standardized testing. When my kids still went to brick-and-mortar school (as opposed to online school), sometimes my oldest would be so nervous about the tests that she would be crying so hard she had a hard time with the test. One time the principal came in and told the kids, "This test is your teacher's report card, so if you want your teacher to keep her job, you need to be sure to do your best on the test." Of course the kids were already planning to do their best...who takes a test determined to do their worst?
Now that my kids are home for school, we don't place much emphasis on standardized tests. They have a program called Study Island which they use to prepare for the tests, but it's a simple format of answering a question and then getting to play a game if you get the question right, and my kids look forward to it.
I tell my kids that the only thing that the tests really test is your ability to take a test...I can take a multiple choice test on something I know very little about (for example, mechanics on the ASVAB) and get a high score just because I'm good at taking tests.
I likely would, because they serve no real purpose other than to make politicians seem like that are doing something to improve the schools. It's a terrible terrible barometer of how good kids really can be in school. The problem is that the way you get asked questions in one of those tests is often much different than you learn in class. Some people can adapt to that, some can't. I remember being in the 10th grade in when I was in a calculus class, being mystified about some of the algebra questions on the test. Because the way they were set up, and the wording was not how I was used to it. For example I was used to an equation looking like this.
6(x^2+4)
-----------
(9x^3-9)
and not
6{x^2+4}/{9x^3-8}
And the way it asked it was so math wordy like solve, and expand the equation if possible, and explain if x =\= to 0, and why. Even though in class I could barrel through problems like that, got top grades, and even gave other students help. However the way it was *and other questions* were asked made me simply have not a clue about what was being asked. Anyway, sorry to veer off with my own personal experience .
I am aware of the movement. Like Maciesmom, I think standardized testing has it's place in education. Unfortunately, the results aren't focused on the children as much as on the teachers and administration these days. If testing is done to identify weak areas, and additional help is given to students as their results indicate, then it has value.
When my kids were in elementary school in NJ, the test days were done without fanfare. When we moved to FL, in the weeks prior to testing days, the schools held pep rallies, and we were inundated with emails, phone calls and notes home stressing how important attendance on test days was. Parents told me their kids were physically ill from all the focus on doing well. And, of course, in GA now, the schools were so intent on seeing their scores rise that some districts cheated.
My kids always did well on the tests themselves, and I never considered keeping them home, but if they had worried to the point of making themselves sick over it, I may have.
I am aware of the movement. Like Maciesmom, I think standardized testing has it's place in education. Unfortunately, the results aren't focused on the children as much as on the teachers and administration these days. If testing is done to identify weak areas, and additional help is given to students as their results indicate, then it has value.
When my kids were in elementary school in NJ, the test days were done without fanfare. When we moved to FL, in the weeks prior to testing days, the schools held pep rallies, and we were inundated with emails, phone calls and notes home stressing how important attendance on test days was. Parents told me their kids were physically ill from all the focus on doing well. And, of course, in GA now, the schools were so intent on seeing their scores rise that some districts cheated.
My kids always did well on the tests themselves, and I never considered keeping them home, but if they had worried to the point of making themselves sick over it, I may have.
I would think though that it would be smarter to just allow teachers a freer hand in how they teach. They are going to know how to reach out to the kids having problems far better than a bureaucratic in a state office building would.
I would think though that it would be smarter to just allow teachers a freer hand in how they teach. They are going to know how to reach out to the kids having problems far better than a bureaucratic in a state office building would.
Well, the better teachers would do it on their own. The bureaucrats are useful for nudging the other ones into action.
There were a couple times when my kids were in lower grades that the schools made a huge deal about not missing certain days due to some testing or another. THAT never concerned me and my kids did miss some of those for various reasons. I made sure they took the SAT and ACT though. and any test that would help qualify them for something.
This is interesting. I think that if I lived in a system with standardised testing that I would have my kid opt out. Standardised testing has its place and that place is determining your final grades at the end of your school career (in my opinion), having them throughout school is just over-doing it. Continuous assessment should be left up to the teacher as they would know the best way of assessing the students they teach.
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