Monday, February 04, 2008

Super Bowl - Quite a Test

The New England Patriots lost their first game all season last night. I know, that's not news to anyone. But it's got me thinking. After an almost perfect season, losing one game has meant that people have called the Patriots' performance disappointing or a failure. This one game, just a few hours, has changed many people's impressions of the team. Is that reasonable?

We seem to do the same thing to our students with standardized tests. One bad day, a few hours of sub-par performance, and a child can be labeled negatively for some time. Their scores on a test often are viewed as more accurate, exact, and important than anything their teachers might know about them. All the anecdotal notes, classroom tests, and other assessments carry less weight.

Our students, at their young ages, aren't ready for a Super Bowl of standardized tests.

1 comment:

Mrs. Erbland said...

I couldn't agree more. How can we put so much time and emphasis on one small moment in time? I see amazing thing everyday in my classroom. Things that a standardized test can't measure. These children are creative and solving life's little problems. show me the standardized test that does that....