Corwin is experiencing his first major interaction with standardized testing. The important one that affects our “No Child Left Behind” ranking is in the spring. They are doing this one kind of for practice and to determine where they should direct efforts to prepare for the spring. I believe they are taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The entire week is dedicated to testing. Pretty much the whole day is either taking tests or taking a break from taking tests.
I dimly recall taking acheivement tests in grade school (Stanford something or another I think), but I thought we only spent a day or two on them. But of course that was many moons ago, so I may not be remembering correctly. It seems like it is pretty easy to let the the test drive how you teach. Most of the homework Corwin brings home seems to be more directed to learning how to answer test questions that learning something (the learning is incidental). I don’t think Corwin’s teacher uses the test to drive her in class instruction. This consistent education evaluation is a pretty tricky thing.
Corwin does not seem very concerned about the testing. Of course I’m not able to get much information from him about the test. As with most school things, he does not remember. Must be the memory eraser that have installed on the bus.
Turns out the tests were done by Wednesday. Not clear if they just went faster than some other classes, Corwin was confused, or I was confused. Anyway, Corwin seems to have survived just fine.
