Cognitive Flexibility Hypertext Assignment March 20, 2002 Darlene Hofmeister INSYS 497 Cognitive Flexibility Hypertext Assignment March 20, 2002 Activity for Title I Reading Students Grades 3 - 5

Standardized Tests Every year, millions of school children are faced with taking standardized tests in their schools. Why are these tests given? Why do school districts put so much importance on the scores? Do the scores for these tests really matter? This presentation will help you see what different people or groups of people think about students taking these tests. To begin, click on each of the topics on the left to see what each section will be about. You do not have to go in order. Look at the headings and the pictures. Decide what you will find out when you read. Click on the ‘Reading Activity’ slide to see what you will be expected to do with the information you read. Once you know what you have to do, click on one of the ‘Perspective’ slides and begin reading.

Student’s Perspective Why do we have to take these dumb tests anyway? I have worked hard all year long trying to improve my reading. I have gone to Title I every day since September. I know how to read a lot more words than I could at the beginning of the year. I can find the important information in an article and understand what the whole article is about. I can even highlight information to find the correct answer to a question. But then when I try one of those tests, the words are so hard and I get all confused and get lots wrong. Who cares if I don’t do well anyway? It doesn’t count for a grade on my report card. It won’t make me flunk the school year, so I can’t see what difference it makes.

Parent’s Perspective Every spring, my child has to take the standardized test at school. I know that my child is just as smart as the other kids in his class. But, I’m really nervous about his test score. If he scores below 50%, that means half of the other kids in the United States did better on the test than he did. Last year his score for reading was 31%. I’m really upset because another low score will show that my child isn’t as smart as I thought he was. Can you imagine what the neighbors will say? George next door is always bragging about how smart Sally is. He’ll be over here telling me Sally’s score and trying to get me to tell him what Fred’s score was. What am I supposed to say? He won’t let up until I tell him. Then of course it will get all over the neighborhood. But what can I do? Should I punish him? Should I take away the computer? Or should I blame his school? Should I blame his teacher? Maybe he needs to be tutored or should go to summer school. I just have to see that his score gets better.

Teacher’s Perspective I am really torn. It is time for all of my students to take the standardized test that the school district requires. I know that I have taught my students many strategies to improve their reading. They have worked hard to learn the skills that I have taught them. I do understand why the kids are so upset about having to take them. The words and some of the questions are too hard!!! But then on the other hand, I have seen the test score reports that the school district gets. Every one of my students is listed, so everybody knows what scores my students got on the test. The principal sees those scores. The curriculum director sees those scores. The superintendent sees those scores. Then the newspaper publishes the school district’s scores. (Of course student’s names are not put in the paper!) People start thinking, “What are those teachers doing anyway? Can’t they even teach those kids to read?” I know the tests are not going to go away. I guess all I can do is teach the kids as much as possible and hope each one of them will try his or her best!

State’s Perspective We, the state of Pennsylvania, must be sure that every child is learning how to read and write and how to do math. We have to be sure that each school district is giving the students the education they should have. By giving standardized tests, we are able to compare how well each school district is educating the children of that district. If we didn’t have the test scores, how would be be able to tell if the schools and teachers are doing their jobs? The state of Pennsylvania gives a lot of tax money to schools to make sure they can meet the educational needs of the children. If one school district doesn’t have good scores, then maybe we’ll have to take over that school like we did the Philadelphia schools. If those school districts can’t have high enough scores, then we’ll stop giving them state tax money. Then the people living in that district will just have to pay higher taxes to pay for the schools. Beginning next year, we are also going to make sure kids in the high school don’t graduate unless their scores are high enough. We’ll give gold seals or stickers on kids’ diplomas too, just to show which kids got higher scores! Then people will start realizing just how important these tests are!

Conclusion Standardized tests are here to stay, whether we like them or not. Teachers must be prepared to help their students succeed. Teachers must be sure their students know that reading tests are like the reading they do everyday and the same skills and strategies are to be used. Students must try their best and use the skills that they have learned. Students must take the tests seriously and think! Parents must make sure their children get plenty of sleep each night before the tests. Parents need to be sure their children eat a good breakfast before going to school on test days.

Reading Activity Before Reading: How do you feel about taking standardized tests? Write your answer in the pre-reading section of the next page. After Reading: For each perspective, list reasons why that person or group has the opinion they do. Use the outline on the next page to record information. HOW? Print all slides by clicking on the File icon. Click on ‘Print’. Under ‘Print What’ select Handouts. Make sure it says 6 per page. Click on ‘OK’. On the printed copy, find phrases or sentences that tell exact reasons why each person or group feels the way they do. Highlight that information. Record that information on the outline. Then write how and why your ideas have changed.

Response Outline Student Parent Pre-reading feelings ____________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Student Parent _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________

Response Outline Teacher State __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ Explain how your ideas have changed. Why did your opinion change? _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________