- Testing Homeschoolers
-
- Testing Homeschoolers
- Requirements Compared
- Holding Children Accountable
- Should We Test?
- Testing Services
- Test Results -ACT
- To Test Gifted Kids or Not?
- College Tests
-
- Legalities
-
- Laws
& Legalities
- Content
Standards
- Drivers Ed
- Educational Neglect
- For Teachers Who Want
to Tutor
- Homeschool Stationery
- HSLDA Information
- It can't be legal
- Legal Cases
- Legal
Resources
- Naming Your Homeschool
- Other Countries
- Portfolios
- Records and Reports
- Special Needs Legal Advocacy
- A Tax Write-off?
- Testing Homeschoolers
- Transcripts
Thoughts & Opinions
- Accreditation
- Controversy
- Demographics
- Dispelling the Stereotype
- Education
Reform
- HeartMath
- Homeschooling Is Best
- HSLDA Consumer Info
- John Taylor Gatto
- News About
Homeschooling
- Public
Homeschool Programs
- Numbers
of Homeschoolers
- Ravage of Home Education
- Research
- Resources
- School
Issues
- Socialization: The "S"
Word
- Taking
Charge
- Testing
Homeschoolers
- A to Z Home's Cool
- Home
- Articles
- Beginning to Homeschool
- Chat Room
- Community Networking
- Concerns
- Curriculum Shopping
- Distance Learning Programs
- DVD Rentals
- Early Years
- Events
- Explorations 4 Kids
- Field Trips
- Gifted Kids
- Holiday Directory
- Homeschooling Jokes
- Laws & Legalities
- Lessons & Ideas
- Methods, Styles
- Regional Information
- Religion & Cultural
- Special Needs
- Support Group Resources
- Teens & College-Bound
- Thoughts & Hard Facts
- Unschooling
- Explorations 4 Kids
- Computer Literacy
- Drivers Ed
- Fine Arts
- General Interest
- Health & Fitness
- Language Arts
- Languages
- Math
- Science Experiments
- * Astronomy
- * Biology
- * Chemistry
- * Earth Science
- * Physics
- Social Studies
-
-
 
- A to Z DVD Library
- DVD rental and purchase
store
Best Selling
Homeschooling Books
|
Testing Homeschoolers
Dateline: 01/04/99
By Ann Zeise and Jane M. Smith
When you think of testing, do you:
- Picture thirty kids locked in a classroom scrambling
to answer questions before the timer goes off,
- Smell the delicious aroma of the chocolate
cake your son just baked,
- See the garden
you and your children planted earlier this year overflowing with
produce,
or
- Picture your child at a county fair showing a prize
animal?
 Guess what? They are ALL the correct
answer! That's right! Testing is not just sitting in a room with
thirty kids filling in little bubbles without going outside the
lines. Every time you bake a cake, build something, or tell someone
what you learned, you are passing a test. If the only one of
those four answers you considered was answer "#1,"
start expanding your definition of testing.
Schools
use multiple choice, group administered tests because it is a
quick, efficient way to find out what a large number of students
know. But there are two main drawbacks: for the most part, such
tests only show how well kids take tests, and the use of such
tests inevitably leads to "teaching
to the test," in order to give the appearance of raising
test scores. There is no way to guarantee that the student who
is able to pass the test can actually put the information they
have in their head to use in real-world applications. Performance-based
testing, on the other hand, usually has a tangible result that
will only occur if the examinee "gets it right."
In performance-based testing,
if you don't know something, it shows right away. If you don't
know what eggs do for a recipe, you'll find out when you forget
to put them in there. If you don't know what gardens need in
order to grow, your lack of produce later will show it. If you
forget to feed your steer, its low weight at the fair will educate
you. But why test at all?
Before you test your homeschooled
children, there are several things to consider. The most important is to think hard about why
you are testing your children. Someone may have told you that
you must, that your state requires testing. In this case, do
look carefully at the laws
for your state or province.
- Many states do not require testing,
yet ISP's will ask you to have your child tested. Know when you
can stand firm, to refuse testing. Don't help set a precedence
for testing in your community!
- Some states require very specific tests in their laws for
homeschooled students, and in these cases, you should comply.
- Others seem rather wishy-washy about what you use for testing,
and some don't even care if you report the scores!
- Most states will only become concerned if your child is in
the lowest 30%. If you are homeschooling a child with severe
learning disabilities, do keep records of testing from school
days, too, as well as testing during homeschooling so that you
can show improvement, if required.
Many states do not require testing,
yet Independent Service Providers (ISPs) will ask you to have
your child tested. Know when you can stand firm and refuse testing.
Don't help set a precedent for testing in your community.
If you are required to test, resist
the urge to look at the scores. I know this may be hard. You'll
be curious whether your homeschooling is working better or worse
than some national norm. The national norm is, of course, 50%.
Any norm is 50%. That's the definition of "normal."
Homeschooling students, no matter what method is used, whether
text-based, eclectic, or unschooling, tend to score
above the norm. There. Feel better? You have "above
average" children simply because your kids are being taught
things they really want to learn, with loving, individual attention.
When trying to decide how much
importance to place on standardized test scores, think about
how knowing the scores will influence your perspective about
your child's abilities. Last year I had my son take SmarterKids'
rather fun "Children's Skill Test" because I was in
one of those paranoid states, thinking that I wasn't teaching
him at a challenging enough level. I was getting lots of flak
from relatives: "How do you know he's learning enough?"
So he took the tests. He did fantastic!
It went right to his head. Why
should he do any more at all if the scores showed him well above
grade level? Why not take a few years off and just play computer
games? Ack! That was NOT what I wanted from testing. What if
he'd had a "bad hair day" and had decided to randomly
put in answers? If the score had been extremely low, would I
have forced him to buckle down and started to jam curriculum
down his throat? Would he have given up?
There are some logical
reasons to test, but a multiple choice, standardized test
is not the best method to use to do so. Life will often provide
tests. Once on a tour the guide asked, "What is the speed
of light?" My son knew it. I didn't recall talking about
the speed of light at home. Asked later how he knew it, he had
said he saw it on a t-shirt and thought it was interesting.
Often, you can steer a conversation
to something your child has been studying to see if the main
point of the topic has been grasped. Gently done, this can help
you see your child's strengths and weaknesses. Just listening
to your kids and finding out what conclusions they are drawing
will let you know if they understand important concepts or have
misunderstood something.
Contests
are fun for those who have mastered some skill and would
like to compete with peers. While not for all, a contest
can be lots of fun when a child feels well prepared and is pitted
against only those with similar skills. County fairs, spelling
bees, and geography bees are examples of such contests. Games
and exhibitons give practice and test new skills, and can be
fun for all. But do not force your child into competitions.
Let the idea come from her or him.
It is sometimes helpful to expose
your child to standardized testing if he or she is preparing
for college. If your teen has never been given standardized tests,
it would be a good idea to take advantage of the many test preparation
books and programs available. These can be found at your nearest
bookstore or library. Preparation
for the SAT and the ACT may help your child score higher.
In summary, consider why you feel
you must test your child. Is the test really necessary? Could
taking the test harm your child or your relationship with your
child? Who needs to see the results and what do they intend to
do based on seeing the results? If taking the test means your
child will qualify for some program
in which he or she desperately wants take part, by all means,
let him or her take the test. If the test is only for the glorification
of your school district and you are not required by law to take
the test, do yourself and your child a favor: don't force testing.
Districts tend to think that if they can get some homeschoolers
to test, then they have the right to require all homeschoolers
to test, and this hurts us all.
Validity of high stakes standardized test requirements for homeschoolers: a psychometric analysis NEW
After considering the psychometric evidence, I conclude that current and proposed high stakes standardized requirements for homeschoolers are baseless. Policies based on such requirements are a waste of taxpayer dollars and a needless imposition on homeschooling families. By Nicky Hardenbergh
|
- Information about Standardized Testing
from Amazon.com
-
- In
Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era
of Testing and Standardization
by Deborah Meier
- The educational policy makers promote the notion that standarized
tests are an effective tool to measure academic achievement in
the nation's youth. Meier challenges this theory making the comparison
between schools that rely upon standardized tests versus small,
self-governed schools.
-
- What
Happened to Recess and Why Are Our Children Struggling in Kindergarten?
by Susan Ohanian
- That big business is taking the joy out of education is becoming
more and more real every day. What that joy really is, Susan
makes very clear to all: discovery, wondering, questioning, and
trying...not scores, and informational feedback, and high-stakes
testing.
-
|
