Ugh! Standardized Tests! Now What?

We are in the height of testing season. It seems like every school I walk into, all I hear is chatter about the FAST, STAR and I-ready. It’s so sad that the education of children has been hijacked by standardized tests. Be that as it may, testing is nothing new; even when I was in school several decades ago, we took standardized tests. They were meant to tell everyone involved if the instructional approach used by the teacher is effective to meet students’ curricular needs. But, when the entire curriculum focuses on little else than passing a test, that, in my opinion, is when we have a problem.

While there’s not a whole lot you can do about it right now, because the time to prepare for this month’s testing was months ago, if you know a little bit more about how to use the information that comes out of the test, it should create better outcomes the next time around.

DID YOU KNOW?

– In the state of Florida, the only grade level that requires a passing score on standardized tests in order to move forward onto the next grade is third grade – unless the student has already been retained. If you have a child in second grade and the school is telling you that your child is not passing the tests and they will have to be retained, and they have an IEP, that is not true. The student can be moved onto third grade. Keep in mind however, that if your student is not yet reading and is in second grade, third grade will present massive challenges. Actually, for students who need it, my favorite grade to retain is second grade. Third grade is the most challenging of all years because that is the year that students transition from learning to read into reading to learn, and if they don’t yet have good comprehension skills, they’re in for a roller coaster ride of a school year.

– Testing these days is generally done on a computer. In fact, the FAST is a computer-based test. If you have a student who has an accommodation for non-reading materials to be read to them (ie; instructions, math, science), the computer will read it to them. However, to many students a computer voice has a tendency to sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown (‘wa wa wa’), but did you know that you can have an accommodation where an actual human acts as the reader? On the IEP, this is referred to as, “ oral presentation of test prompts.” Take a look at your IEP and see if that’s on there. If it’s not, and you feel like it would be a benefit, call the person in charge of holding your IEP meetings and see what they have to say.

– A law passed in Florida last year that if a student is retained in preschool, then that could be considered the retention year and when they get to third grade, and if they don’t pass the standardized test, they will not be required to be retained. The time to consider if a student isn’t meeting the grade level expectations is not to wait till third grade. Children’s progress should be monitored on a continual basis, backed up by data to support their progress, and if progress is not on an upward trajectory, then the IEP team should come together and make changes to the delivery of services and consider curriculum that has a better track record teaching students with disabilities.

– Removal from regular standards should be taken seriously – like really seriously. When the IEP team comes together to consider whether a student should remain on regular standards or move to the alternate standards, there are a set of questions that need to be answered. None of the questions are, “Is the student likely to fail the FAST?” There must be a recent documented IQ score of 67 or lower to even consider removal from standards. When students are removed from regular standards, it completely changes their educational trajectory. They can remain in an inclusive classroom setting; however, they will not be collecting the course codes that will be necessary to enter a college degree seeking program or a trade/vocational school’s certification program. Most students with disabilities graduate high school on regular standards, however, some do not, and that’s perfectly OK as long as that decision was carefully considered, and the ramifications understood.

– Once the testing is over and you have the results, schedule a meeting with your teachers and special education team. Ask them to carefully review the outcome of the assessment. Pay special attention to what your child answered correctly and that should help everyone involved determine the better path to take next year. Focusing on a person‘s shortcomings rarely leads to better outcomes, but if we look for a child’s abilities, we should be able to build an instructional model, with curriculum that matches the way that they learn, that can yield incredible outcomes.

If your child doesn’t pass the state standardized test, the school will give them another assessment. If they are close to passing the FAST, the likelihood of passing an alternative is pretty good. But, if they are significantly behind, taking another test isn’t likely to yield a different outcome. The only way to find better results is through better instruction and better curriculum, and THAT is what advocacy is all about!

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Happy Advocating!