Documente Academic
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Documente Cultură
Nermin H. Fialkowski
National University
Fellow colleagues,
Let’s all take a moment to reflect on why we became teachers. What was it that brought
us into education? How did we end up here as high school math teachers? Now, let’s think about
our purpose as high school teachers. Isn’t the purpose of high school, to prepare students for the
real world? To prepare students for college and/or the work force? I mean isn’t that the order of
things? Elementary school students feed into middle school, middle school prepares students for
high school, and high school prepares students for remedial math courses.
More than 60% of all community college students in California are placed into remedial
classes (Shelton & Brown, 2010). This high rate of remediation suggests that there is a
widespread lack of college preparation among recent high school graduates. Although students
are underperforming in standardized tests, it does not mean they are not successful in their high
school career. Students are still meeting the minimum course requirements for university
admission but are placed into remedial classes. And our school site follows trend. Data from
our school site suggests a large discrepancy between students meeting college/university
admission and their SBAC scores. Looking at the 2017-2018 school year, 70% of our students
met the A-G requirements, but only 11% met or exceeded the SBAC Mathematics Standards.
The core of this epidemic lies between a misalignment of standardized tests, college placement
So how can we as teachers address this issue? Through the use of formative assessment.
Formative assessment is defined as the “formal and informal process teachers and students use to
gather evidence for the purpose of improving student learning” (Chappuis, Striggins, Chappuis,
& Arter, 2012, p. 24). Formative assessment supports student learning. Results are interpreted
frequently and used for planning the next steps in instruction. The process provides descriptive
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feedback to students and involves them in the assessment process (Chappuis, Striggins,
Chappuis, & Arter, 2012). Formative assessment is a continuous cycle of identifying students’
progress towards meeting the learning targets and adjusting instruction in order to support them
achievement because they change the student’s interaction with assessment” (Chappuis,
Striggins, Chappuis, & Arter, 2012, p. 27). Igniting this change with assessment is vital as
assessment is usually attached to a negative connotation due its over-emphasis and high
frequency.
During 2001, The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) ignited a standardized-based
education. The notion was that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals would
improve education, with hindsight being the closure of the achievement gap (The History of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act). States were required to adopt academic standards for
mathematics, reading, and science, and establish assessments that were aligned to these standards
(Evolution of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 1965 to 2015). These standards
would then define what students should know and be able to do in order to be considered
proficient (Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No Child Left Behind (NCLB)). No
Child Left Behind was the era of “teaching to the test” which then became increasingly
unworkable for schools and educators. It was criticized for setting unrealistic goals and placing
too much authority on education policy with the federal government (Every Student Succeeds
Act: Information and Resources). Then in 2015, The Every Student Success Act (ESSA) was
passed. This Act maintained the expectation that there will be accountability and action to affect
protections for America's disadvantaged and high-need students. The Every Student Succeeds
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Act has a focus on students being taught to high academic standards that will prepare them to
succeed in college and careers, Something NCLB overlooked. (Every Student Succeeds Act
(ESSA)).
High-stakes exams identify students who lack the knowledge and skills for their grade
level but does not identify as to why they are not proficient (Trumbull & Lash, 2013). Currently
these high-stakes exams are not linked closely enough to classroom instruction and curriculum
(Trumbull & Lash, 2013). The misalignment of standardized tests, college placement exams,
and classroom assessments deals with the invalidity of associating educational quality to
standardized achievement test scores (Popham, 1999). There are there main factors of this
invalidity, 1- test-mismatch, which deals with what is taught locally versus what is tested; 2-
elimination of important test questions, such that the only meaningful comparisons among
students are only from a small collection of items; and 3- confounded causation, which all
aspects of a student’s learning, what is taught in school, their native intellectually ability, and
So, as we reflect on how we ended up here as high school math teachers, let’s not blame
standardized tests for our large discrepancy in student achievement between high school
graduation rates and college/career readiness. Instead let’s work on closing this gap together.
system that yields useful information for a variety of educational purposes (Trumbull & Lash,
2013). We need something that will shape our ongoing classroom instruction, while complying
with state accountably decisions. What we need are coherent assessment levels that align with
same learning targets across classrooms and the state. We need a coherent and balanced
assessments that will produce relevant information about student learning over time. And
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formative assessment is the answer! Formative assessments are a balanced and coherent
assessment system. They provide information that can be used as feedback to modify teaching
and learning. Formative assessments help form and shape student learning during the learning
process. While focusing on how students understand material, not just on what they understood.
The purpose of formative assessment is to close the gap between students’ current learning
situation and where they want to be with their learning and achievement.
In order to implement this change of assessment, the change first needs to happen with
you, the classroom teacher. The classroom teacher must know the ins-and-outs of assessment, to
truly understand assessment by design. To know what the need for assessment is, as well as
what the assessment assesses (Stiggins, 2014). Most importantly, you, as the classroom teacher
must know what to do with the results, otherwise, the assessment serves no purpose. Once you
have an understanding for the need and methods of assessment, you can then communicate its
importance to your students. Assessment is a journey that is taken by both the teacher and their
students; “we must move beyond seeing assessment merely as something adults to do students
and understand that it is something students constantly do to themselves” (Stiggins, 2014, p. 87).
So, let’s take action and stand up for our students, let’s give them the education that they
deserve. Let’s give our students a fighting chance of being successful and work towards closing
Nermin Fialkowski
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Resources
Chappuis, J., Striggins, R., Chappuis, S. & Arter, J. (2012). Classroom Assessment for Student
Learning: Doing it Right- Doing it Well (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No Child Left Behind (NCLB). National Center
center/learn-the-law/esea-nclb
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from:
https://www.ed.gov/essa
Every Student Succeeds Act: Information and Resources. The National Conference of State
Evolution of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 1965 to 2015. The Hunt Institute.
09/Development-of-the-Elementary-and-Secondary-Education-Act-August-2016.pd
every-student-succeeds-act-essa-information-and resources.aspx
Popham, W.J. (1999). Why Standardized Test Don’t Measure Educational Quality. Educational
Shelton, A., & Brown, R. (2010). Measuring the Alignment of High School and Community
The History of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Retrieved from: http://3fl71l2qoj
4l3y6ep2tqpwra.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wpcontent/uploads/ 2014/07/ESEA.pdf
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Trumbull, E., & Lash, A. (2013). Understanding Formative Assessment: Insights from Learning