I have some opinion about Testing. This comes
from my own experience from school, and teaching and testing students in CTA,
reading about testing, and also learning alternative approaches to testing.
The objective of this exercise is to take a
closer look at testing and come out with an unbiased information, and take
educated decision.
Let me analyze this using Six Thinking Hats.
White: the facts
Given to students to know how much they learned
about the materials.
Students prepare for the test before the test,
and take the test on the test day.
The teachers correct the papers and give marks,
letter grade, or both.
Yellow: the advantages
It gives students the opportunity to review /
study the materials.
It gives the teachers opportunity to give
feedback to the students and hence the parents.
The feedback gives students the opportunity to
learn what they missed.
Black: the disadvantages
It is stressful.
It is about pushing forgettable facts into the
short term memory, vomiting in the test, and forgetting right after the test.
Meaning, most students do not know most of what studied for the test after few
weeks. Hence the long term learning because of testing is small.
Though the test gives the students opportunity to
learn what they missed, most students do not because they get busy with getting
good marks in the next test.
Teachers do not use test scores to help the
students learn what they missed. We just move on with next lesson.
Red: Emotions
Puts too much pressure on the students and
parents.
Marks do not reflect actual learning.
Does not help with long term learning.
The amount of time and resource used for testing
can be used for active learning.
Green: Alternatives
Consider formative assessment.
Consider a mix of formative and summative
assessments.
Consider "demonstrate your learnig"
approach to assess and give mark and grades.
Consider giving marks based on their completed
projects, active participation in the class, and demonstration of acquired
skill/knowledge.
Blue: Recommendation
This does not change my opinion about testing. We
need to seriously look at how we test, and make it effective for our students.
