This week, my third graders completed and reviewed a full TCAP practice test. On Monday and Wednesday mornings for two hours, they Parts 1 and 2, respectively, of the ELA and Math portions. Then, for about an hour and a half on Tuesday and Thursday mornings the students reviewed the entire tests. My mentor teacher gathered the data ahead of time so that she knew which questions gave the most students problems, but still all of the questions were reviewed. In addition to this full practice test, she has the students complete spiral review daily math and language exercises every morning when they arrive in the classroom. Also, for all of their textbooks, she always has them complete the TCAP practice questions if they are available—usually one every few pages.
In terms of how she discusses the test with students, she is more brash than I would be with elementary students, especially in 3rd grade when this is their first year taking the test. For example, in one instance this week she used it to talk about their ability to move forward into 4th grade next year. She told them that attendance, grades and their TCAP scores would affect whether or not they could continue in fourth grade next year. In the same vein, at another point she had the students raise their hand if they were hoping to go to a Magnet school at some point. After that, she said, “Well, you’ll need to do really well on the TCAP then!” That certainly got their attention and I think that it will be a motivating comment for a few of the students. However, for the whole class, I didn’t feel quite as comfortable with that statement.
I understand that these tests are high-stakes for both teachers and students, I really do. Also, I understand that I probably won’t be as idealistic about approaches to standardized testing once they affect me and my classroom more directly. At the same time, have any of you seen teachers who approach the test with students in a more meaningful and authentic way? I would love to have more ideas to pull from before I’m figuring out how to approach it on my own!
Let's be honest, standardized tests ruin school a little bit. As Cassie and I have talked about, our first placement was really forced into making TCAP prep a huge priority, and most of my lessons involved some kind of TCAP prep (usually in the form of TCAP-style practice questions). I understand why we had to do it--the school is at a high risk of being restructured if they don't show massive improvement on their TCAP scores--but it just made me so sad. I kind of accepted it as the sad reality of what must be done in that situation; the teachers had no choice but to "teach to the test."
ReplyDeleteNow I'm in kindergarten, so granted, they don't have to take TCAP yet, and when they do start taking standardized tests, they will take the PARCC test. I don't know that these kids have even HEARD the words "TCAP" or "PARCC," but they are learning skills that will help them on it. For example, when we do math, they have to show their thinking in multiple ways, especially on word problems. They have to be able to explain their thinking, they can describe what math strategies they are using, and they incorporate academic language into verbal discussion. It's actually pretty impressive! Also, they write a LOT. They write about EVERYTHING. They write way more than my 4th graders did at my first placement, and we all know that writing can be hugely beneficial to learning in any subject. My FM has told me that she has them talk about math, write in every lesson, and show their work in multiple ways because she knows it will eventually help them on standardized tests, but also just because they are best practices for learning!
So. I don't remember how I was prepared for standardized tests in elementary school, but I remember middle school and high school. I went to public schools that generally scored very well on the TAKS test (Texas version of TCAP), so I don't think the teachers ever really worried about how we would do, but we did do SOME prep. But I remember that when we did TAKS prep, teachers would always say something like, "Y'all already know how to do all of this. The only reason we're doing TAKS prep at all is so that you know how the questions are going to be asked and how they're going to try to trick you. But we have learned everything you need to know to do well on the test." I don't think we talked about the TAKS test at all until a week or two before it was given, but we were unknowingly learning and developing the content and skills that we would be tested on all year. (When we did talk about TAKS, though, we did use practice questions from past years, and the teachers did emphasize the importance of doing well on it, although they didn't express any doubt that we would!)
Although the kinders don't have to take TCAP, I see a lot of parallels between they way they are learning and the way I did. I may be idealistic, but I don't think standardized test prep should ever need to take over the classroom curriculum entirely. Students will do better on the tests if they're learning authentically, and then learn how to apply their knowledge to the context of the tests.
I think that, based on my own scant observations, a lot of the way your mentor teacher here at Hickman has handled TCAP prep is in tandem with her teaching and management styles. When you think about it, TCAP is almost more scary and threatening to teachers (or it can be!) than it is to students. It's a difficult time of year. Even though I have been doing my solo teaching for the past two weeks, I have allowed my mentor teacher to have 45 minutes a day to devote to test prep - just him with the students. I completely understand why he would want this, and I am completely fine with giving up that 45 minutes of instructional time. The most frustrating thing to me is that, as Peabody students, I think we are taught to think the knowledge necessary to do well on standardized tests can be taught in more meaningful ways than test prep. Which is true. No doubt about it. The thing that is difficult though, that I have very much come to realize, is that many students struggle more with following directions and test taking skills than they do with the actual content that is being tested on. Therefore, I do understand the necessity of test prep in a lot of cases.
ReplyDeleteI read a fabulous article this morning (found via the Skimm!) on Common Core and standardized tests - definitely gives a lot to think about from many different points of view - and in different contexts! I will attach it below:
http://time.com/3827395/common-core-opt-out/