|
CURRICULUM
CONVERSATION: State Testing/Byram Hills Performance
Assessments
Ten members of the administration and faculty joined
Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum and Personnel,
Dr. Jackie Taylor, to engage the Board's consideration
of assessment issues confronting the District. Discussion
focused on the increasing requirements of State and
federal testing, which this year mandate tests in
English Language Arts and Mathematics for all students
in grades 3-8, and necessary adaptations of time and
curriculum. Responding to Board questions, teachers
described how they are trying to imbed test preparation
in the usual work of their classes, both to preserve
the curriculum, and the interest level of students.
In This Issue...
|
Curriculum
Conversation
|
1&2 |
|
Business Meeting |
2 |
| Coming Attractions |
2 |
| Action Summaries |
2 |
|
|
Asked about problems caused by the new requirements,
both administrators and teachers noted the additional
time required not only for the administration of the
tests, but for teacher training on scoring, and the
actual scoring time - in all, as much as nine days
at some grade levels. Also mentioned were concerns
about the format of the tests, which rely largely
on multiple choice questions.
While most of the talk was of the newly required
tests, Byram Hills has a rich and growing practice
of other ways to assess student progress, including
locally designed "exemplars," "performance
demonstrations" and "portfolios," which
may provide better information to our teachers and
parents about our own students. The question - how
to strike the right balance to best serve our students?
- was answered in part by faculty efforts to use these
practices for the additional purpose of test preparation.
Even so, there was an expressed desire from both Board
and faculty to return to the topic of our own assessments
in the future.
Board members expressed great thanks for the efforts
of those who attended
|
