Reading Between the BubblesTeaching Students to Critically

Examine Testsby Linda Christensen

Sonya Miles

Tests today are high-stakesBased on tests scores:• Students are retained• Placed in summer school and remedial classes• Teachers’ and Principals’ salaries rise and fall• Schools are reconstituted or penalized• Student’s who fail internalize failure and

question their ability and intelligence• Students learn to blame themselves, and

some come to believe they will not succeed because they are not capable enough

• Should the score on a high-stakes test determine if a student is promoted or retained?

• From the time students are in 3rd grade they sit through batteries of multiple choice high-stakes tests

• Their scores are sent home, informing their parents where they stand.

• Students come to expect that, like beef, they will receive a ranking from the government: exceeds, meets, conditionally meets, does not meet.

• Students move through school dragging these test scores behind them.

• Students with low test scores accept placement in non-college track courses, and otherwise lower their expectations.

• Counselors won’t recommend them for higher-level math and science classes needed for acceptance into a four-year university.

• For many students, their scores mark their place, not only in school, but in life after school.

• Do you agree or disagree that test scores mark a student’s place in school as well as their place in society?

Tests

Multiple Choice Test• Christensen discusses how some of her friends that

teach at a low-achieving elementary school have been counseled to redesign their regular curricula so that students can get accustomed to multiple-choice test questions.

• Christensen questions how this is possible when in a classroom we are trying to develop students’ capacity to think critically and imaginatively. How can a role play about an important historical or social issue be reformatted into a multiple choice activity? How does an A-B-C-D answer format encourage students to imagine themselves as an interned Japanese American or a Cherokee Indian facing government-ordered removal?

• What do you think, Is multiple choice • test the best form of assessment • for our students?

Achieving Real Gains• Christensen states, “To achieve real gains in

knowledge and skills, students need a rich curriculum with varied opportunities touse their learning in real-world activities.

“Authentic Assessment”• This type of classroom environment will generate

growth that may or may not be reflected in test scores, but will increase the likelihood of students seeing themselves as readers, writers, historians, scientists, mathematicians, and thinkers.

• Christensen lives in Oregon, which is a state that has filled its classrooms with tests. She is a mother and a teacher who has patched up the wounds test scores have left behind. She is also a victim of a school that was reconstituted in part due to low test scores.

• What are your thoughts on Authentic Assessment?

Examining the Origins and Purpose of Tests

• Christensen is a firm advocate in fighting against the over assessment of students.

• “We may have contempt for the tests, but learning how to take them is a survival skill in today’s society.

• One way that Christensen helps her students is by taking on an in-class study of tests. She did this with her sophomore language arts class.

• She had her students investigate the origins and uses of tests in their district or state.

• This may not be possible for younger students, but teachers can research the tests that are used in their district or state

Do you think it is important to knowthe origin and purpose of the tests that you are giving to your students?•

Examining the Tests• Once Christensen’s students cast a critical eye on the

origins of the tests, she helped them improve their performance by examining both the content and the format of the tests.

• She downloaded practice reading tests from her states Department of Education website.

• The students analyzed the reading passages, and made points about background knowledge, culture that was represented, and whose culture and knowledge was missing. They discovered that they could not relate to the passages. Students discussed that how when they got bored and lost focus, they stopped taking the test seriously.

• They also noted that the test did not really measure their ability to read.

• Many students noted that the tests had more items about rural life than about urban life.

• Do you think examining practice tests with your students can improve performance on multiple choice tests?

Developing Test-Taking Strategies• After students discuss their reactions to the content of

several tests, they practice taking one of the sample tests.

• After taking the tests, the students then get into small groups and discuss their answers. They must show what evidence from the text informed their choices.

• Students also share what types of test taking strategies that they used if any.

• Also students must be able to identify what type of question is being asked: word meaning, locating information, literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, evaluative comprehension, literary forms, or literary elements and devices.

• She also has students note which type questions they missed the most, and that is the area they need to review.

• What are some test taking strategies that you use when taking multiple choice type test?

Test taking strategies developed by Ms. Christensen’s students.

• Read question first.• Locate key words in question.• Note type of questions:

o In passage – word meaning, graph.o Throughout passage – inference based on

gathering clues.o Not in passage – your conclusion based on

evidence in passage.• Be a detective – look for clues• Use the process of elimination• 50/50 – guess when you can eliminate two choices• Do you think it is important to teach students

test taking strategies?

Creating Tests: Thinking like a Test Maker

• Lastly Mrs. Christensen lets her students use their creativity by picking reading passages and then developing their own questions. She then complies the questions into one test and the students are once again able to practice their test taking strategies.

• She states, “ When the students think like a test maker, certainly their ability to read the test is enhanced, but something else happens: They realize that these are just questions about reading.” Nothing marks these as the questions one must answer in order to be “smart”.

• Do you think it is a good idea to let students create their own test questions?

What can we do as teachers and parents about the assessments in

our classrooms?

• Christensen states, “As teachers and parents we can organize against the broader attack on public education that allows fill-in-the-bubble tests to dominate our classrooms, and makes students question their abilities.

• How do you feel about testing? What changes do you think should be made to the way we assess students in the classroom?