Homeschool 2.0 » testing

Teaching to the Test or Mastery?

lynn — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 20:16:30 +0000

Great post at Why Homeschool last week on standardized tests and what they mean and our attitudes toward them. These tests can provide very useful information on what our kids have mastered and what they still need to work on. In a homeschool environment that’s a practical way to use them.

However, in a classroom, teaching to the test may replace mastery of subject material with mastery of test taking. It’s taking time for schools to line up their teaching of subject material with what is required by No Child Left Behind.

3 Steps to Making State Standards Useful at Home

lynn — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 04:03:36 +0000

Continuing the theme of standards and testing I recommend that anyone homeschooling their kids who has a doubt or a curiosity over how well their kids are doing at home take a look at their own state’s standards. Use them as part of the planning process.

When we plan for the coming school year part of it includes being able to identify what standards we will cover and master. While that sounds very bureaucratic it’s really very easy.

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Measurements and Learning

lynn — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:31:51 +0000

[youtube EnlkVefMVQM]

Political correctness, global thinking and the latest social philosophy are inconsequential when compared with whether or not a child can read or write or calculate or think critically. As I wrote at length in my previous post it does matter what we measure and how it’s used to improve a child’s learning.

HT: mrmoses.org

No Child Left Behind Homeschool

lynn — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:14:06 +0000

What does No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have to do with homeschooling? Depends upon what state you live in. Some states nothing and others it has an effect. Here in Alaska it can be good for those of us who teach at home primarily because of standards.

I grew up as most did in the public school system taking standardized tests. In Ohio, we sat at our little desks and penciled our way through the Iowa Basic. The California Achievement Test (TerraNova CAT/5) is the other ubiquitous standardized exam. How did the exam results inform your parents or improve your education? They didn’t. Those are norm-referenced exams; that is, they compare you to yourself, to other kids and your school to other schools in the state or coast-to-coast. Norm-referenced tests do not measure what you know.

NCLB has mandated standards-based or criterion-referenced testing. That means a kid’s knowledge and skills are required to be measured. Each state is now required to write standards for each level. Simply put, if the state thinks that a child should know the multiples of five after 3rd grade they will write a standard stating that and then write an exam question to measure it.

There’s a lot of quibbling and angst over the nuts and bolts of NCLB among teachers, administrators and parents. But, I submit that NCLB standards-based testing is, essentially, what homeschoolers do. We teach a topic or skill and make sure our child understands it before we move on. We don’t leave our own kids behind.

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Does College Prep Coursework Really Prep a Kid for College?

lynn — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 23:56:25 +0000

Bror’s Blog summarizes new research from the testing folks at ACT that indicates most students who take college prep courses are not adequately prepared for college. Disturbingly, they found that 3/4 of college-prep high school grads did not have a reasonable chance to succeed in a college course. The complete report can be found here.

How should this affect the way a high school student is educated at home? Certainly, not all students should go on to college. It seems the goal is to adequately prepare each student whether it’s college or the work place.