Test Prep. Then what?
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a majority of high school students to be able to read and write and do math at an 11th grade level before they graduate from 12th grade.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect students entering college to be ready to do college-level work when they graduate from 12th grade.
But when we [teachers, schools, districts] focus the bulk of our educational efforts on "preparing" students to achieve the minimal passing score on a single test that measures 11th grade proficiency as if that were preparing them for anything other than that single test, it is unreasonable to expect that they will be prepared for much of anything beyond high school, least of all that college-level work we think we are getting them ready for.
There is a gap wide and deep between what an emphasis on "HSPA prep" implies is the height to which students can aspire - the ability to write a 5-paragraph essay, a form that often limits thought more than liberates it, and to read a text well enough to be able to answer questions on it by picking the one correct answer out of 4 options - and an internalized set of mature literacy skills that are transferable to the kind of reading and writing and reasoning that students will have to do in college and and in many careers.
We don't have to sacrifice real learning, real literacy, to the demands of standardized testing.
In a recent discussion about the nature of standardized tests with my junior students who have recently taken the HSPA and are now gearing up for the SAT and AP tests, together we explored the value of such tests in the bigger picture of educational assessment. After the initial grumbling about hating tests, the disadvantages of being a "bad test taker," and the objection that such tests don't really show the extent of students' abilities - all things with which I agree in varying degrees- we were able to arrive at some consensus that a standardized test such as the HSPA provides a snapshot of the literacy skills a student has internalized and can draw upon when necessary. And there is some value in that.
When we internalize a set of skills, they become almost automatic; we can call upon them when we need them. When we learn to tie our shoes, internalizing the set of skills involved in making bunny ears, or whatever method we use, we don't have to pay deliberate attention to the steps involved in tying our shoes, In the same way, if we have internalized the process of constructing and supporting a written argument and the essentials of English grammar and mechanics, we will be able to call them up when we need to.
The best test prep, college prep, career prep, is to develop the skills of reading and writing and reasoning in ways that transcend the minimal. If students are regularly asked to, and expected to, and taught how to read materials that challenge them intellectually, they will become stronger readers and stronger thinkers. If students are regularly asked to write sustained arguments, short papers of 3-5 pages they will become stronger writers. While it can be help test-takers become familiar with the structure and the range of content on a standardized test, nobody becomes truly proficient in shoe tying or literacy skills by focusing the bulk of their efforts on doing exercises on a computer. Ultimately, if we involve students in the real intellectual work of developing content area literacy skills by they engaging them in reading and writing and reasoning in every discipline, they will be able to depend on those skills used when they are confronted by the much less rigorous expectations of the HSPA.
If we set the target on a 250-word, five paragraph essay as the epitome of writing, then that is what students will aim to produce. Many students leave high school with the impression that because they can write five paragraphs, they are ready for whatever comes next. If we don't show them that there are higher expectations for them to aspire to, what have we prepared them for?
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect students entering college to be ready to do college-level work when they graduate from 12th grade.
But when we [teachers, schools, districts] focus the bulk of our educational efforts on "preparing" students to achieve the minimal passing score on a single test that measures 11th grade proficiency as if that were preparing them for anything other than that single test, it is unreasonable to expect that they will be prepared for much of anything beyond high school, least of all that college-level work we think we are getting them ready for.
There is a gap wide and deep between what an emphasis on "HSPA prep" implies is the height to which students can aspire - the ability to write a 5-paragraph essay, a form that often limits thought more than liberates it, and to read a text well enough to be able to answer questions on it by picking the one correct answer out of 4 options - and an internalized set of mature literacy skills that are transferable to the kind of reading and writing and reasoning that students will have to do in college and and in many careers.
We don't have to sacrifice real learning, real literacy, to the demands of standardized testing.
In a recent discussion about the nature of standardized tests with my junior students who have recently taken the HSPA and are now gearing up for the SAT and AP tests, together we explored the value of such tests in the bigger picture of educational assessment. After the initial grumbling about hating tests, the disadvantages of being a "bad test taker," and the objection that such tests don't really show the extent of students' abilities - all things with which I agree in varying degrees- we were able to arrive at some consensus that a standardized test such as the HSPA provides a snapshot of the literacy skills a student has internalized and can draw upon when necessary. And there is some value in that.
When we internalize a set of skills, they become almost automatic; we can call upon them when we need them. When we learn to tie our shoes, internalizing the set of skills involved in making bunny ears, or whatever method we use, we don't have to pay deliberate attention to the steps involved in tying our shoes, In the same way, if we have internalized the process of constructing and supporting a written argument and the essentials of English grammar and mechanics, we will be able to call them up when we need to.
The best test prep, college prep, career prep, is to develop the skills of reading and writing and reasoning in ways that transcend the minimal. If students are regularly asked to, and expected to, and taught how to read materials that challenge them intellectually, they will become stronger readers and stronger thinkers. If students are regularly asked to write sustained arguments, short papers of 3-5 pages they will become stronger writers. While it can be help test-takers become familiar with the structure and the range of content on a standardized test, nobody becomes truly proficient in shoe tying or literacy skills by focusing the bulk of their efforts on doing exercises on a computer. Ultimately, if we involve students in the real intellectual work of developing content area literacy skills by they engaging them in reading and writing and reasoning in every discipline, they will be able to depend on those skills used when they are confronted by the much less rigorous expectations of the HSPA.
If we set the target on a 250-word, five paragraph essay as the epitome of writing, then that is what students will aim to produce. Many students leave high school with the impression that because they can write five paragraphs, they are ready for whatever comes next. If we don't show them that there are higher expectations for them to aspire to, what have we prepared them for?
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