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Testing / Evaluations
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I wondered if anyone might share their thoughts on using standardized tests as forms of evaluation. We are not required in FL to do so but our children previously attended private school and took the CAT test. We were thinking of having them take it again this year even though they are now home schooling using CM exclusively. Our thought was that we had old CAT reports and could use this new one and the old ones as a very general look at what is what.
A second question I had was for anyone who is required, as we are, to provide an evaluation each year by a certified teacher. How did this process go for you? Any suggestions? My husband is a certified teacher and could actually perform this duty for us but we are wondering what others have done and experienced.
We feel confident the children are learning and their happiness is evident with their enthusiasm for learning! We don’t have anxiety that they are not learning. We aren’t hung up on them learning certain things at certain times either with the understanding of CM that we have. To be honest for me the CAT would be satisfying a curiosity about how joyfully we are living and learning now in comparison to “then” if that makes any sense.
Thanks for any comments!
HI Claire,
In Ga., we don’t have to have a certified teacher give review. HOwever, we have standardized testing every 3 years, but without needing to send it in, we must hold on to it for persoanl records.
I personally like it this way for a similar reason as you stated. My son took his first testing last year, using PASS. I was able to see his strenghts and weaknesses from a ‘big view’ position. He acheived what I expected and surprised in the spelling dept. He was at the math position that I expected (the developmental mathematics uses a different scope and sequence) and I could see any gaps that I may have overlooked. I am going to do it again this year, just so I can compare notes.
So my view is, though I won’t do it yearly, I see a big test like the one you’re describing as just another tool and not something to be apprehensive about, as you obviously aren’t. Use it for evaluation as you do a narration for comprehension of a book.
Sounds like you already have it in mind what you’d like to do and have a healthy grasp on the reason
Rachel
Ugh… I hate testing… When we lived in WI, we didn’t have to test at all. Moving here to MN, now we do, starting at age 7. Unfortunately, hubby likes comparing our kids with the “standard” traditional schooled kid. We just had an argument about this very thing last night. He wants to test our 6yo, though the law says we don’t have to. Grrrr… Very sore subject for me.
Reason I hate testing – among others – what do I care how she compares to everyone else? I want to know what she knows, not what she doesn’t know. And that I already know because of her narrations. So what if she’s slower than other kids in some areas, or faster in other areas, or “right on schedule?” The important thing is, she’s learning and growing and happy.
JMO, but if you don’t have to, and you’re satisfied with her current rate of learning, I wouldn’t test. I have no idea if your state can see those results or not (I don’t know about my state, either) – but I am very hesitant about setting precedent, kwim?
Anyway, just my .02.
Hi Claire,
I’m a FL certified teacher and I evaluate our daughter myself each year with a portfolio review. She is now in third grade, and I have enjoyed reviewing each year with her. Somtimes she asks about another teacher seeing her work (as I do portfolio reviews for others as well), and I have offered to take her to another certified teacher if she’d like me to, but she has never decided to do that (and I don’t feel a need to do it, so we haven’t gone to anyone else). We share her portfolio with family each year and she enjoys that.
I think the way a test is given and the way the results are used make a huge difference. While I don’t necessarily feel that young children should take standardized tests even though we have already given one to our daughter (at home and low key—just for the experience of it)—and I am actually opposed to the way state testing here is used and curriculum catered to it, I do think that children who would like to go to college should have at least several experiences taking tests before it’s time to take the college entrance tests. But junior high would probably be early enough for that….though we will likely give one every other year or so here to keep up the practice with it. We’ll probably continue to give them at home until junior high when I think it will be good to give her the experience of group testing—-again, to get her ready for the PSAT/SAT or ACT tests.
So there’s a few of my thoughts on it…….
I’m glad you are enjoying your homeschooling!
Take care,
Kim
Oh, and Sara’s post made me want to add this thought…..it is my understanding that you do not have to submit test scores to your county if that is how you choose to evaluate each year. (Though you still need to keep a portfolio each year even if you evaluate with testing….you probably realize this, but a lot of people don’t seem to.) I agree about setting a precedent of doing more than what is required by law……We use the form recommended by the FPEA each year and that’s all we send in and it is worded exactly to follow the home school statute wording.
-Kim
(And Sara, I’m sorry testing is causing stress in your home.)
I have to either test or have a teacher evaluation each year. I’ve done testing for several years, but this year I’m having a teacher evaluation. The problem with testing and especially CM is that what you learn with CM is SO SO SO different than what the tests test. My girls’ math scores are also very low because they are people, and people aren’t always on one grade level at a time for all subjects. I hate testing. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t have to. I suppose if you can genuinely use the test to compare the child only to himself over the years, that would work. But I’m too interested in the percentile ratings, and I hate that about myself.
Just my thoughts.
I could care less about the percentile ratings; that’s my husband’s department. He makes me stressful, not the test itself, due to his view of testing and “where they’re supposed to be”, etc. I use it for what Art said above regarding self-comparison and also what I said before.
Thankfully, we’re not required to test every year, just every three. The one I start them off with, the PASS test, is not timed, so that was their first timer one. Of course, the State accepts it, but if they were to be entered into the gov’t. school system, then they wouldn’t recognize it, even though the State does
Wacky regulations at work again. So I’ll switch them to another one come their 6th year testing.Rachel
We did an article series a while back on CM-Style Assessment. Here’s the link in case it’s helpful:
Rachel, I’m lucky my husband is now a total convert to the CM philosophy of education because his entire professional career and our livelihood are dependent on public school education! He’s even gone so far as to use it in some of the college courses he teaches to new Florida teachers to get them to “think outside the box” a little more when it comes to their classrooms.
I’d never show the results of the CAT (California Ach. Test) to the kids or anyone else but I do feel like I’d like to see if there are any gaps. And not so that I’d necessarily fill them either but just to say – oh, look, interesting – and let it go at that. I’m going to talk to the kids and see how they feel about it. If there is no anxiety I think we’ll go for it this time around.
Thanks everyone – Claire
Just a quick question from someone who uses a CRS that requires testing…..For those of you that have to test, how do you discuss this with your kids? My 8 year old actually enjoys testing very much. She looks forward to seeing some of the same kids at the end of each year. I have told her that the testing is basically for me, sort of a teacher evaluation. She is never nervous and she makes extremely high scores. Some of the questions she tells me about are so ridiculously easy for her grade level. But it wouldn’t matter one bit to us if she wasn’t making high scores. If she is learning and I can gage that by narrations and other things, then I’m not worried about it. We don’t give grades at home so I struggle with how having to test her at the end of the year is effecting schooling the CM way. Other than telling her that it “doesn’t really matter”, any ideas?
Britney,
Last year when we did the PASS test, my son bothered me about receiving the results back; he was so excited. I don’t recall it being a big to-do, conversation wise it was low-key. It certainly didn’t and hasn’t affected our CM style. I don’t grade either; though my son likes to see or hear a 100%. Since it’s not every year with us, it affects our schedule less than someone doing it yearly, I’m sure. The PASS test doesn’t use any grades, but I’m only going to use it twice with each, then use a different one in the 6th year.
I think I just told him the truth; that our state requires him to take a special test for our records to see how well he’s doing and to just do his best. I do distinctly remember telling him that there would be some things that he has not gotten to in his schedule yet in math and language, but that if he thinks about it enough, he may figure out the answer anyway. I don’t adjust what I’m teaching based on what may be on the test.
Although I don’t recall the conversation exactly (it was very quick and I think I talked to him before it arrived). My dd does one this year; I’ll use PASS again with her, too. I also plan to tell her basically the same thing I said here.
I know that was vague, buy I hope it helps a little,
Rachel
I wanted to add a little update to this original post -After some thought my husband and I decided to have him evaluate our children instead of using someone else. Florida allows any certified teacher and puts no limits on a parent being that person. I’m happy to report the evaluations went great! I was so nervous about it but the kids were happy as larks and really enjoyed showing all they had learned. I video taped it all so that we captured a complete picture of them both academically and physically (they had all sorts of spontaneous acting scenes during their history section!). Thanks for all the good advice in the above posts.
I also live in FL and opt for portfolio reviews for my kids.
I use these two forms as my personal tools for evaluation of how I think we are doing. They were originally from Linda Fay at Charlotte Mason Help. I tweaked a bit and they work well for us. Again, the progress report esp., is for my use to see how we’re progressing, not for the kids. The character report is done together. They always rate themselves lower than I do it seems.
Thanks for those links. We both ended up feeling like we’d like to do these spot evaluations more often than once a year because we cover so much in a year! Our evaluation included a portfolio review of sorts too. We were so new to doing this that we were both looking to one another for guidance. His “fresh” eyes helped me see insights into different areas and I helped guide the conversation by knowing what we’d covered. We did quite a bit of conversational narration on topics, with both the kids and us reviewing samples of work from their portfolio too.
Wacky regulations at work again. So I’ll switch them to another one come their 6th year testing.
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