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Chapter 16 |
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Read the following case study and answer the questions that follow it.
We join a group of teachers who are designing a testing program for a new charter middle school. Charter schools are alternative schools that are independently operated but publicly funded.
"What is our number-one priority for this testing program?" Anita Spears asks, trying to focus the group on its goals.
"We want to be able to document the fact that our students are learning something. That always is a major concern with charter schools," Jacinta Wilson offered.
"We also want to know where to place students in our math and language arts programs—especially if they are having difficulties with our initial placement," Kyle Whittingham adds.
"And we need some type of test that we can use with students with special needs. We're going to get students who underperform, and we'll need to have some way of finding out if this is due to problems with general cognitive functioning," Gwen Kovachek points out.
"Those are all good ideas, everyone," Anita interjects. "Let's focus on our first idea—documenting our students' learning. What kinds of screens should we use to select these tests? Kyle, any ideas?"
"Well, first, it ought to match the goals we talked about last week. It should match our general philosophy that learning is thinking and not just accumulating facts."
"Okay. What else? Jacinta?"
"It also ought to match the state standards we examined. If it doesn't overlap with them, we're going to have problems."
"Anything else, Gwen?"
"It also should match what students are going to encounter in the different high schools around here. If a student does well on the test, he or she should do well in a comparable subject in high school," Gwen adds.
"These are all good ideas," Anita comments. "We also have to remember that we are going to have a number of students who are of cultural minorities. What kinds of things can we do to ensure that their test scores are valid?"
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