Assessment and Standardized testing

Whenever it is time to administer the Florida Comprehensive Academic Test (FCAT), I inwardly cringe and want to have a legislator watch the effects of this high stake testing on many students and not just students with special needs.  Many students are able to have extra time, additional breaks, use highlighters, dictate their writing, take the test in a small group setting and occasionally in a one to one setting.  Some students can have the math and science test questions read to them.  These modifications didn't help a former student that has yet to learn to read beyond the the kindergarten and first grade level.  This person is now 20 and can comprehend books that are read to him.  He can't read the cable guide and gets frustrated easily. His math skills are at the fourth grade level.  He didn't graduate from high school in spite of combined efforts of his teachers, his mom and one on one support from me throughout his school years and beyond.  I also have to assess my students using the Florida Assessment for Instruction in Reading (FAIR).  This test is administered one to one in grades k-2 three times per school year and from grades 3 through 12, the students can take it online.  I do use the information from this test to help me pinpoint strengths and weaknesses for each individual student and focus on strategies and skills to help them improve in the five areas of reading.  I can sometimes see where they have made improvements and what I need to focus on next for each student.   I also have to give a comprehensive math test 3 times a year and record each students scores in a spreadsheet that is monitored by my school district.  We will soon have comprehensive tests at the end of the year for each grade level.  Many of my students have test anxiety and can be very oppositional and defiant so I sometimes have to complete the tests over 3 to 4 days.  There are many times, I know that my students can do more than what they show on these tests.  I also want to teach and testing is NOT a teaching opportunity. I understand the need for accountability but definitely feel that accountability for teachers can be accomplished without all the formal testing of students.  I do believe that as a teacher, I need to make sure that my students are learning the skills and strategies I want them to learn so I assess them as I go.  I also believe in I.Q. and  psychoeducational testing.  I think it is important to know where all students start.  I would be ok with comprehensive beginning of the year tests and end of the year tests to see the progress students have made.

Compulsory education in Israel for children begins at the age of 5 although many children attend pre-school starting at the age of 3.  Pre-school is mainly private but there are some free public centers.  There are Jewish, Arab and Christian schools.  There are three types of Jewish schools, secular, religious and independent (Machol, 2010).  Primary and middle schools are under the direction of the Ministry of Education and high schools are independent or run by municpalities, local committees, or national networks (Machol, 2010).  When a child is enrolled in school, they are given the Hebrew or Arabic version of the WISC-R to learning apptitude and I.Q (Zeidner, 1990).  Students aged 4 to 6 may also be given perceptual tests such as the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test or the Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception to assess reading probelms.  Students who are aged 9 to 18 may also be given the Milta Group Verbal Intelligence Test to assess verbal ability (Zeidner, 1990).  Students in grades one to six are also given criterion referenced tests to determine what they have learned for the year (Zeidner, 1990).  In the eighth grade , students can take  vocational tests such as the Hadassah Vocational Aptitude Battery (Zeidner, 1990).  This will help them decide on a career or trade.  In order to go on to college, students must take matriculation tests (Zeidner, 1990).

Machol, Ron (2010, May 11).  Teaching English in Israel. [Blog message]. Retreived from http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/05/teaching-english-in-israeli-school.html

Zeidner, Moshe (1990,  Winter).  School-based assessement research in Israel: current state and future directions. McGill Journal of  Education, 25(1) 37-63 Retreived from
http://mje.mcgill.ca/index.php/MJE/article/view/7898