Saturday, March 13, 2010

Time To Get Rid Of Proficiency Exams: Part 2

Again, my very little liberal side gets the best of me and this is one of those few times. It is time to get rid of the proficiency exams for the State of Nevada.
As a special education teacher, I am not affected by the exams because I have to give my kids an alternate exam, which none of my kids could pass.
So, how does this affect the school?
Well, first, teachers almost always teach to the test, which limits what teachers teach. In reading and writing, the teachers know what will be on the test and they teach to that so that the student has a better chance of passing the proficiency exam. Same with math and science.
So, what happens during test week? For 4 days, this past week, our school day and week was totally disruptive. On Tuesday, only sophomores and students who have not passed the math exams attended school. That means freshmen and those proficient in their math exams did not attend school. And this helps how? What is the benefit of freshman not attending school? The other days, some teachers had to proctor tests. Those students in those teacher's classes got a free day and spent the period in the cafeteria. And this benefits who? Assistant principals and counselors are spent doing paper work and making sure every i is dotted and every T is crossed. And this benefits who?
Well, who it benefits are the bureaucrats who grade the tests and the test makers.
I don't know who exactly grades the test, but i do know some teachers are hired to evaluate the writing portions of the test. They are paid extra money to grade the tests and they have to hire hundreds of teachers to grade the written portion of the tests of thousands of the students. Nice payday for the teachers. They also have some bureaucrats who have to run the answer sheets through the scanners. How much does this cost?
Finally, the test makers make a ton of money on these tests. Again, I don't know who writes the tests and nor do I care. The fact is that the State has to spend millions of dollars to have the tests written, published, distributed and finally graded. With a State that is in dire economic straits, is this a wise way to spend money with very little benefit?
Clearly, proficiency exams benefit State of Nevada politicians and education bureaucrats, but it does not really benefit the student, taxpayer or individual schools. But hey, it keeps people employed and it pays a lot of money to the test makers.
If the tests are gotten rid of, you will find a lower drop out rate, more kids in school and fewer problems in the community during school hours and more educational opportunities when teachers don't have to teach to the test (along with teaching the basics) and isn't that the main purpose of education?

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