The Need for Better TQ Data |
THE IMPACT OF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
The adoption of NCLB provided even more impetus for new investments in TQ data systems. However, sound TQ data systems must tap into far more than the current spate of standardized tests that states and districts must use to comply with NCLB. For example, as George Wood, a highly accomplished and recognized high school principal from Ohio, has noted, current standardized tests do not measure how well students can do “in the worlds of citizenship, college, or work. They often measure test preparation rather than actual knowledge and skill, and they typically direct teachers toward focusing their teaching on memorization and recitation rather than on logical thought and reasoning. Even on tests that purportedly measure higher order thinking skills through the use of multiple-choice test items, such as the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, students often apply test-taking skills rather than actual content knowledge and skills to answer a question (Slate, Erica 2005 an unpublished dissertation from the University of Texas at Austin).
Other assessments can be used to gauge student learning that assess more than just basic skills and “higher order thinking skills” as measured by multiple-choice items. For example, alternatives include those used by the New York Performance Standards Consortium as well as those used in Nebraska, where new assessments, called the Basics Plus, focus on the traditional three Rs while ensuring that learners can think, make decisions, analyze information, evaluate choices, solve problems, and work with others.
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Last updated: February 21, 2006