\doc\web\99\05\cunntest.txt Arthur adds: For one thing, it's good to spend more money in the state - that's one of the (unintended??? doubt it) side effects of reform, higher costs are good, not bad. Marc Tucker's original plan was to have a national test and national CIM, but the way things have worked out is that if Clinton had presented Tucker's plan, it would have met the same fate as his health care plan, so the states have carried the ball for him, the Achieve group will pick up the pieces when the states have worked out the bugs. If you think about it, unless you can guarantee that all students take the same courses in every school, you can't have a standardized test on content. That's why the SAT is general, and more like an IQ test as well. You can't require students to master algebra, physics and chemistry unless you can guarantee that all students can be taught to proficiency level, but that's exactly what many states are doing. It's going to be a big train wreck when this all falls into place unless we manage to stop it (fat chance!) Date sent: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 12:34:35 -0500 To: "ClearingHouse" From: "George K. Cunningham" Subject: [education-consumers] Achievement testing Send reply to: "George K. Cunningham" ===================================================================== At 09:53 AM 3/26/99 -0600, you wrote: >If I may ask a naive question, why do the states not use the Iowa Test of >Basic Skills instead of paying oodles of money to re-invent a testing >instrument for the state? > >Jeanne First of all the ITBS is not the only standardized achievement test. Others include the CTBS (TerraNova), SAT9, California Achievement Test and several more. While there are some differences among them, they are all pretty similar. The procedures for developing such tests is well known and widely shared. You can examine the different tests and you might prefer one to the other, but there are little differences. Using these tests to assess reading and math performance at the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grades works pretty well. Most communities have similar goals for student learning in these areas. Beyond these, there is a problem. We don't have a national curriculum, so the authors of these tests face a problem when they try to assess other topics. Particular problems occur with social studies and science. There is simply no way to create a test appropriate for all of the diverse curriculums that exist around the country. They are not just dissimilar, they are totally different. So what do they do? I spent some time several weeks ago examining the social studies and science sections of the ITBS. They measure no facts about these topics because there is no common facts they can assess. These sections contain nothing except what could best be described as mental ability items. Charts tables and paragraphs and questions about them. To be successful, a student needs to come into the testing setting with any knowledge of these topics whatsoever. All they have to be able to do is read charts, tables, and paragraphs. This is not meant as a criticism of ITBS. They have no choice and all the other achievement tests do the same thing. The biggest myth about standardized achievement tests is that they only measure the recall of facts and do not measure higher level thinking ability. The problem with these tests is that they measure no facts and only measure higher level thinking skills. States develop their own tests in order to actually measure their state's content standards. Are the benefits worth the enormous costs? Will such policies increase learning substantially? I have my doubts. George Cunningham Professor University of Louisville ===================================================================== EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE networking and information for parents and taxpayers on the internet Subscriptions & Archives: http://education-consumers.com or You are currently subscribed to education-consumers as: arthurhu@halcyon.com TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a blank email to leave-education-consumers-989462S@lists.dundee.net ===================================================================== For less mail, click on the following link and choose 1) a daily digest, 2) a daily list of subjects, or 3) no mail (read postings on Web) http://lists.dundee.net/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=education-consumers For more help & info: http://www.lyris.com/help or