Goldie's response to:Fighting Back: Assessing the Assessment

Hillocks asks the question about assessment:  “But will simple complaints be adequate to make any change in the testing system?” His answer, “. . . testing has become the official driving force to reform education” (63).

He notes that teachers do whine about all the testing that has to occur.  However, he advises that in order for the complaints to be affective and to have an impact on school administers and state legislators, educators “they will have to rise above whining” (63).  In other words, they will have to prove their case.  He suggests that a research study in terms of analysis.  Teachers must take note as to how the testing is driving or not driving their teaching and assessment.  As I work on my final research project, I want to know why so many people are against testing and standardize testing.  I would like to be in that group who would collect and analyze data to prove that certain testing may or may not prove to be beneficial.  I don’t want to say that a particular test is not necessary, but rather to prove my case.

In order for me and other educators to prove our case, Hillocks maps out four assessment questions to pursue along with helpful follow-up questions for each question (subheading).

·         Questions about Learning Standards:

·         What are the learning standards upon which particular tests and test items are based?  You will need to discover what the standard writers really mean by their phrases about supporting ideas and critical thinking.  On Sunday, I asked my grandson about his homework.  He said that the teacher wanted them to work on their critical thinking assignment.  I wanted to ask him about his teacher’s definition of critical thinking.  Unfortunately, at that moment, I did not have a copy of state standard’s definition of critical thinking for comparison. That’s a definition that I will have to explore:

·         Questions about the Theory of Writing: To what extent do they hold up to careful scrutiny?

·         Questions about Test Items and Prompts: For this question, Hillocks wants us to “examine the test times and writing prompts to see if they reflect the language of the standards” (64)?  He clues us in by highlighting that “while the standards reflect some concern for critical thinking, the test items and prompts do not” (64).  Could the previous sentence be the answer to my research study question?  I not going to make that a flat out yes at this moment.

·         Questions about Scoring Criteria: For this question, Hillocks informs us that “more and more tests are including constructed responses” (64).  He recommends that we examine the scoring criteria for test.  This question may also help me to examine why some people do not like standardize testing.

·         Questions about Benchmark responses or compositions: