I have received a number of responses to my post. Only one so far has
addressed my main point (thank you Syrilda)--that before we discuss exit
requirements and assessments there is a prior question that has to be
addressed: what does (or should) possession of a high school diploma
actually signify? Current reality is that, in many states, a HS diploma (or
GED) is the SOLE REQUIREMENT for admission to the state higher education
system. Therefore, a HS diploma curently means, at least in those states,
that the student is ready for college-level work. That's reality. I would
welcome some real discussion on that issue.
Once that question is answered, the next one is: is a single multiple choice
exam likely to determine with any reliability whether those standards have
been met? Most of us would agree the answer is no. But it's easy to score,
politically popular, and provides long-term employment for legions of
consultants.
The MA exam is one feeble, politically motivated attempt to address this
problem. I have seen 20 years' experience with a similar program in Florida,
so i can say with some certainty that the sequence of events described below
by Dusty Griggs is right on the mark. But that doesn't mean that nothing
should be done. And it doesn't mean that the reasons given by the students
for their actions are good ones.
Chuck Lindsey, Ph.D. clindsey@fgcu.edu
Director of General Education
Associate Professor and Program Leader, Mathematics
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Blvd South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565
Phone: (941) 590-7168 FAX: (941) 590-7200
http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/clindsey
> -----Original Message-----
> From: DustyGrigg@aol.com [SMTP:DustyGrigg@aol.com]
> Sent: Thursday, June 17, 1999 1:33 AM
> To: clindsey@fgcu.edu; owner-mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu;
> mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu; marslist@cord.org; bidwell.14@osu.edu
> Subject: RE: [MATHEDCC] FW: A student's perspective on MA's exit exam
>
> Nancy Sattler's wrote:
>
> "In these days, when a high school diploma is at many places considered
> proof
> of readiness for college, there has to be some sort of filter to ensure
> that
> such is indeed the case. I agree that graduation should not be
> preconditioned
> on passing a single test. There should be *several* assessments, which may
> or
> may not take the form of standardized tests (hopefully not). If a student
> is
> to receive a certification (HS diploma) of having achieved certain
> objectives, then there needs to be some objective measure of having met
> them,
> and if the certification is supposed to represent having met all of them,
> then the student shouldn't get the certification until all have been met.
> It
> has become increasingly clear that simply passing a series of courses is
> insufficient. I'm not a fan of standardized tests, but something is
> needed."
>
> So then if we continue this mode of thought, after a person completes a
> series of courses in college, it would then follow that they would need to
>
> take a test or series of tests ... before being able to receive
>
> their B.A. Degree, Master's Degree, Ph.D. Since we are people who didn't
> have to contend with such mandated tests to obtain our degrees ... it's
> easier for us to say other people need to take such tests to prove their
> knowledge before obtaining their degrees.
>
> The author of the original post stated some very good points ,which I
> agree
> have an extremely high chance of becoming reality. Some of which are:
>
> * How can four years of learning and growing be assessed by a single
> standardized test?
>
> * The material on the MCAS is very specific. For students to do
> well,
> teachers must re-design their curriculums to teach to the test.
>
> * Districts and school administators, eager to show high scores, have
>
> pressured teachers to create units based on the material.
>
> * Because the test is based largely on memorization of facts,
> teachers will have to teach their students these specific facts
> instead of teaching for deep comprehension and understanding of the
> material.
>
> * Students who have been in this country for only three years are
> required to take the test. How can someone who has been speaking
> English for
> three years be expected to write essays with correct spelling and
> grammar, which is a requirement to receive a proficient score?
>
> * Supposedly, this test will be used to evaluate teachers as well
>
> as students. However, a test like this simply measures whether a
> teacher
> teaches to the test.
>
>
> I personally feel that instead of an "exit exams" from a particular
> instutition ... it's more logical to have "entrance exams" that one must
> pass in order to be accepted into a different learning environment. That
> learning environment might me middle school from elementary school; high
> school from middle school; college from high school; Master's Degree
> program
> from a B.A. Degree Program; etc.
>
> Entrance exams screen possible applicants to see whether or not they have
> acquired certain agreed upon knowledge and skills ... which have been
> determined to be necessary to succeed at the next level. Even "open
> enrollment colleges" have math and English assessment exams that determine
>
> the highest math and English course level in which a person can initial
> enroll.
>
> In California, students at a two year community college, pick a major,
> satisfy the requirements for their major (specific course work) and
> satisfy
> the general education requirements (specifc course work) in order to
> obtain
> an A.A. or A.S. Degree in their major. Yet such students ALSO take
> specific
> courses to satisfy the "entrance requirements" of the particular four year
>
> educational institution that they want to next attend. Such "entrance
> requirements" can be satisfied by fulfilling the "Intersegmental General
> Education Transfer Curriculum" (known as IGETC) for transfer to a CSU and
> UC
> educational institution.
>
> I understand the need for standardized assessment. At the local two year
> community college in my area, "Beginning Algebra" is the highest math
> class
> needed to earn most A.S. and A.A. degrees ... therefore the math
> department
> has created a "standardized final exam" which all "Beginning Algebra"
> students must take and pass in order to pass their "Beginning Algebra"
> class
> (and therefore earn their degrees!) Yet that is just one standardized
> test
> for ONE class.
>
> I personally feel that there are too many detrimental ramifications that
> are
> likely to occur (some of which the person of the original post mentioned)
> if
> standardized "exit exams" are adopted. "Entrance exams," on the other
> hand,
> seem to be less plagued with such abuses ... and like the "dangling
> carrot"
> ... provide an incentive to learn whatever must be learned to be able to
> attend the institution or program of higher learning of our choice!
>
> I feel that the high school sophmores mentioned in the original post, who
> refused to take the state mandated Massachusetts' Comprehensive Assessment
>
> Test ... did so after careful consideration and deliberation and in
> accordance with moral consciousness of "right and wrong." There are so
> many
> statesmen/women dictating educational procedure, protocol and correctness
> ...
> who are so far removed from the schools, teachers and the students'
> themselves ... that their mandates are not ALWAYS
> "on-target"
> and in the best interest of the students, teachers and parents that they
> supposedly are serving! So is it only well-informed teachers and parents
> who
> can ONLY tell these statesmen and women that one or more of their
> particular
> mandates are "off-the-wall?" How come well-informed students, even
> sophmore
> students in high school ... don't have the same right?
>
> These students protested the enactment of this mandated "exit exam" is a
> very
> non-violent manner ... by not taking it AND speaking out as to why they
> didn't take it. Positive change doesn't always have to happen because of
> something the "older generation" has done. Sometimes, positive change
> occurs
> because of something the "younger generation" stands up and does ... in
> the
> face of the "older generation's rules and mandates!
>
> Do we want to teach our students compliancy no matter what??? Or do we
> want
> to teach our students to analyze a situation carefully (especially one
> that
> affects them) and then to choose a course of personal action ... as their
> own
> personal moral consciousness dictates???
>
> Dusty
>
>
>
>
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