Wagner generally does not like tests. This is mostly because tests generally do not actually measure what they are supposed to be measuring and are too high stakes. Wagner does mention that if a test is well designed and well executed then the test is a viable test that will be useful, however this generally does not happen. He does talk about how high school exit exams are too high stakes and how if students do not pass the test then they will not be able to graduate from high school. Wagner thinks that this is wrong and that if a student has met the requirements then the student should be able to graduate from high school. Wagner brings up the point that students spend four years learning what they need to know to be able to pass the high school exit exams which likely makes them feel fatigued about learning. I definitely agree that this is a very good point; we spend most of a students four years in high school preparing them to take one or two tests where if they pass it they graduate and if they do not pass it they have to try again. I agree that the students likely feel very fatigued with learning by that point and have very little motivation to put forth the effort to really learn material if they only need it so that they can pass a test. He also talks about how the tests do not really reflect what is important and how many times they give definitions or things that are not the ones that are truly representative of a poem. I think that this is one of the major problems with tests, that they generally are designed to trick students it seems rather than actually test them on their knowledge and abilities. A problem that Wagner points out is that "37 percent of those students lacked the skills and knowledge needed for college" (Wagner 89). This is a major problem and I would agree with Wagner that one of the problems seems to be the test and how for the test, since it is so major, so much time is devoted towards preparing for it that the truly important skills are left out. I 100 percent agree with Wagner when he talks about how the accountability on schools from the tests is outrageous. I do think that it is very important to be holding our schools accountable for the tests, but the degree which the schools are held accountable for the tests is ridiculous. Having little to no support for schools who are falling behind while still expecting improvement from them is ludicrous. I think it is a very big problem when we as teachers are almost req
|
Andrew PrimesMath Student Teacher working at Rancho Buena Vista High School Archives
May 2015
Categories |