New School Year Math Test Thoughts

The new school year has started in most U.S. public schools, along with all the angst children have of tests, especially math tests.

It doesn’t take much effort for me to remember the abject terror I had of these things back when I was a kid, although it was a long, long time ago – back in the days before Micheal Jackson had a solo career, when Ronald Reagan was an actor, David Copperfield was a Dickens character, Google was Snuffy Smith’s buddy (anybody get that reference?) and the world was a much, much different place.

The terror came from knowing that there was no way in hell I was going to pass those math tests. I never passed math in any grade I can remember, except the year we had geometry with Mr. Golden. The schools I attended were rated wayyyy above the national average, yet I walked into and out of every math class wondering what the hell the teacher was talking about, and why did half the kids get it and half the kids not get it?

I learned all of my math, other than geometry, later in life, and outside of any educational institution. I’m not alone, either. There is case after case of people who are much more competent at mathematics than you or I, who are autodidacts.

Math education has changed since my day, but one of the things that doesn’t seem to have progressed satisfactorily is the way we test students. Standardized tests are still, well, the standard. Standard, of course meaning, among other things, “not exceptional.”

There is something so glaringly apparent about what is wrong with giving tests on a schedule, that it makes me wonder if the people who subscribe to their use are maliciously stupid, or just ignorant. Or is it just a cowardly cave-in to craven test-lobbyists?

Why on earth would there be a need to grade the students before the teacher is sure that the student knows the material? I mean, even in cases where teachers are overburdened (like always), isn’t it sort of impossible to know whether a child knows, say, “What is six times seven?” Couldn’t you just, um, ask them? Why make it a grading issue?

If you have to give a standardized test to know if the kids know the stuff, why not give it anonymously? Let’s say you have thirty kids in your class. Give the test. Grade them, but not to grade the kids – to gauge if you have taught the material well enough.

If the material hasn’t been taught well enough (not to blame the teachers – there are usually matters beyond their influence that keep them from being able to teach what they otherwise could teach well) then it’s back to the drawing board, without stigmatizing children for not learning what hasn’t been taught.

Once you have a reasonable degree of certainty that most students “get” it, you will also know (because you actually talk to the students) which ones are having problems. You could even have them identified on the tests, but not give them grades back. Just talk to them later and say something like, “let’s get you up to speed, ok?” and then do what needs to be done to help them. Seems like most kids would have less of a problem with this, and teaching would get a much better hit-rate.

Of course, there are the paranoid educators who worry about, “What if you did this and kids fell though the cracks? What if they cheat? You are not holding them accountable.”

Well, let me say that the “suspect foul play first” attitude is probably the single most influential factor in the demise of trust of young people for their elders, (not youtube).” Suspicion and authoritarianism as a lead-method fosters distrust. Legitimately.

If children are treated with respect, a lot less kids would fall through the cracks than with the present state of affairs. What percentage of U.S. children are at grade level with math? What percent drop out before getting a high school diploma? Is there anything we could possibly do to have more kids fall through the cracks than are doing so now?

Then, once you have reason to suspect that the fault is with the child, then it may be time to administer a test, apply some leverage, maybe a little stigma, who knows. But  continuing to do that as a blanket-solution is just going to keep us getting the same miserable results our public schools generally get. (“What! How dare you! Our school is doing a fine job, blah, blah, blah…”  Yeah, good for your school.)

I’m not naive  enough to suspect that anything will be done about this on any level at any school. Maybe the odd school will do something iconoclastic and innovative. (Imagine that!)

Even if we do nothing, could we please lighten up on the “accountability from the bottom up” mentality?

Why is it we expect benefits to “trickle down” and accountability to “trickle up?”

Again, not to rant at teachers. A lot of teachers are compassionate, and a lot more would be if they thought they were allowed to be. This is a problem endemic to the system. Where to start looking to kick some butt? Every school is different, but one rule of thumb that you can’t go to wrong with is to follow the money. The people making the decisions, who make the most money from making those decisions, deserve the most scrutiny; not the poor kid who has to suffer from those decisions.

In a nutshell, what I’m saying is not “don’t hold kids accountable,” it’s “hold ourselves accountable first,” to set a good example, and to inspire better performance.