NARRATIVE FOR TEACHER #1.
DATE: 2/10/04
TIME: 12:10 PM
GRADE LEVEL: 4
DOMAIN: all content areas
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF TEACHER'S PERCEPTIONS REGARDING:
* How they "prepare" for the Ohio Proficiency Tests.
Mr. Schnell commented that he prepares his students for Proficiencies in a few ways.
One way is to review all of the state indicators for his grade level. He then plans his
lessons prior to testing based on these concepts so that the students have recently seen the
material. He also has the students practice on old Proficiency tests. Each student has a
copy of each content area’s test from a previous year. During their stations every day,
one of the station activities is to go through a specific packet and take the tests. This way
the students become familiar with the general format of the test.
* What pressures they may perceive for their students to perform on the Ohio Proficiency
Tests.
Mr. Schnell said that there is a great amount of pressure to have the students perform
well. For example, his superintendent told him that the fourth grade MUST past four of
the five areas this year. Last year only three areas were passed and a curriculum
coordinator was sent to take over. Mr. Schnell also does not feel that it is fair to base the
amount of money given to schools on how well the student’s do on Proficiency testing.
He feels that this encourages teachers to teach to the test and may even push some far
enough to cheat if they feel that their job may be in jeopardy.
* The teachers perceptions of how their students respond to the Ohio Proficiency tests.
Mr. Schnell thought that nearly all of his students tried their best to do well on the
Proficiency tests. With the reviews and the practice tests the students are familiar with
the format of the Proficiency, so not many of them are ever nervous about it. After the
testing, some of the students care how they performed, but many of them do not.
* How the teachers report these results to their students and their parents.
The teachers report the results of the Proficiency to student’s parents by sending home a
letter to each student’s parent of guardian. They student’s results are reported to them in
class, as well as at an all school awards assembly. There, the students receive prizes
determined by the number of areas they passed. For example, if a student passed three
areas they received a McDonald’s gift certificate, four areas gets a movie pass, and all
five areas gets a season pass to the Beach Water Park. Also, prizes are given to classes
based on how well they did as a whole. For example, the class who passes the most will
get to go on a field trip to the movies or a play.
NARRATIVE FOR TEACHER #2.
DATE: 02/11/04
TIME: 3:00 PM
GRADE LEVEL: 5
DOMAIN: all content areas
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF TEACHER'S PERCEPTIONS REGARDING:
* How they "prepare" for the Ohio Proficiency Tests.
Mrs. Euvrard teaches fifth grade, therefore her students do not take Proficiency tests.
However, next year the fifth grade students will have to take Achievement Tests do to No
Child Left Behind (I will bring in a copy of the layout of this House Bill). The fifth grade
will have to take only the Reading section of the Achievement Test. To prepare for this
test, Mrs. Euvrard commented that she would probably have her students take old sixth
grade reading proficiency tests. She also plans on requesting some materials from the
school’s current curriculum director. Though she knows that her students need to review
all of this material, Mrs. Euvrard also feels that as long as she is teaching best practice,
her students should be fully prepared for the reading achievement test.
* What pressures they may perceive for their students to perform on the Ohio Proficiency
Tests.
Mrs. Euvrard thought that the pressures put upon her were very real, however, she also
felt that the reasons for those pressures were unfair. She told me that she has no control
over what students are in her classroom each year. Due to this reality, it would not be fair
to compare teachers based on their students’ performance. One teacher could have all of
the advanced students, and one could have an abundance of the lower ability students.
Therefore, to give one teacher more recognition because he or she has more gifted
students in their class would be unfair. Mrs. Euvrard also brought up the issue of how the
test scores would be used. She believes that if tests like this determined merit pay for
teachers, “things could get ugly.” Teachers would go to extremes to make sure that
students did well, and that competition might not be healthy. She hopes that these
Achievement Tests will be used simply to identify students who need intervention in the
specific content area being tested.
* The teachers perceptions of how their students respond to the Ohio Proficiency tests.
Mrs. Euvrard said that her students’ response to the Achievement Tests would be directly
affected by how much the test is publicized. If the school’s administration emphasizes
the importance of performing well on the test, the students might be a little more
intimidated and nervous about their performance. She also feels that her actions in the
class will have an affect on the students. She doesn’t want to stress the content area
material so much that the students feel overwhelmed, however, she does want to make
sure they understand basic reading concepts such as main ideas and context clues.
* How the teachers report these results to their students and their parents.
Since the school has never had Achievement Tests, Mrs. Euvrard is not sure how the
school will report results to students and parents. Her hope is that before the school year
even begins, she will be able to have a meeting with all of her students’ parents to let
them know what to expect not only with the Achievement Test, but also with the entire
fifth grade curriculum. She does not think that the school will have an awards ceremony
for the students; she believes that they will leave that for the Proficiency Tests. In all
actuality, Mrs. Euvrard does not even know if anyone will see the results of the test at all.
She fears that the school will simply find out the number of students who passed or not.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST:
Though Mr. Schnell’s fourth grade and Mrs. Euvrard’s fifth grade take different forms of
standardized test, they both are similar in that they do take a standardized test for their
specific grade level. The teachers’ preparations for the tests were similar in that they
both use Proficiency Tests from previous years. This not only gives the students practice
with the subject matter, it also allows them to become familiar with the format of the test.
Both teachers also believed that as long as they were using best practice and following
their specified state indicators, their students should be prepared for the majority of the
questions on the tests.
The teachers were also similar in that they did feel pressure for their students to perform
on the standardized test. They both felt that the repercussions of the scores of their
students were sometimes unfair for the same reason: they have no control over the group
of students placed in their classroom. For example, Mr. Schnell thought it unfair that his
superintendent said every class must pass four out of five of the content areas on the
Proficiency, because some of the fourth grade classes have more advanced students than
other classes. Mrs. Euvrard thought it unfair that merit pay would be based on student
scores for the same reason.
The teachers did have different interpretations of the pressures that the students felt to
perform on the tests. Mr. Schnell believed that the majority of his students tried hard to
do well on the tests, but did not really care what their results were. They have had to take
these tests before, and they know they are going to take more of them in the future. Mrs.
Euvrard felt that the pressure on the students was directly related to the amount of
emphasis put on the test by the administration and by her. Since this is a new test, she
expects the students to be a bit more apprehensive about it.
The final difference is how the scores are reported to the students and to their parents.
Mr. Schnell sends a letter home to each parent or guardian of the students. The students
are made aware of their scores at an awards ceremony where they receive prizes for the
number of areas passed. Mrs. Euvrard has not had to report scores to parents and
students yet, and she is also not sure if she will able to since she is unaware of how the
tests will be scored. She hopes to talk to the parents about the testing at a meeting at the
beginning of the year. She also does not know if the scores returned will be individual to
each student, but either way she does not think that they will have an awards ceremony
similar to the Proficiency Test ceremony.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE Linn/Gronlund (2000) text AND YOUR PERSONAL
CONCLUSION :
Relating these findings to the text, I believe that Proficiency Testing and Assessment
Testing are both given because of accountability demands. The state and the nation need
some way to keep track of all the students’ progress in public schools, and this is the best
thing they have come up with. However, I do not believe that we are able to measure a
student’s maximum performance from a standardized test. This fixed choice form of
assessment does allow for some conclusions to be made about the test taker, however, in
no way do I believe that it can fully measure the test taker’s intelligence. Often times the
results of these tests are interpreted using a norm referenced method; hence, it just
compares the student to similar students their age. I do not believe that these results aid
the students themselves in any way. They have no feedback on what questions they
answered correctly, and they have no feedback on what they misunderstood on the
questions they answered incorrectly. The one positive I could see coming from this is if
teachers and/or administrators used these results to identify students who needed
intervention in the specified content area.