9486 in the collection
Block Those Metaphors!
Super Bowl Sunday 2003. The coin has been tossed, the goals selected. The Raiders line up against the Buccaneers in a test of athletic prowess that decides the championship of professional football.
This is the culmination of a year of work and preparation: months of conditioning, untold hours spent studying playbooks, practices, strategy sessions, team meetings, private mental preparation and a grueling season of games against teams equally motivated to make it to the Super Bowl.
All of that effort, energy, motivation and development come down to this: 60 minutes of football played according to precise rules on a field exactly 50 yards wide and 100 yards long.
The stakes are high: millions of dollars in bonuses, potentially higher salaries and endorsements, careers boosted or brought closer to their end, bragging rights to the title of champion, maybe even a trip to Disney World.
Millions across America gather around TVs. They want -- no, they expect -- their team to give 110 percent. They believe that the team that gives the most will be the winner.
Among the millions watching are thousands of New York teenagers about to participate in what some people consider "high-stakes" tests of their own. They will take one or more of the January Regents Examinations and Competency Tests.
As with the players in the Super Bowl, months of preparation, untold hours spent studying the textbooks, classes, homework, review sessions, class tests and practice tests all come down to this: three hours to demonstrate their academic prowess by answering questions on sheets of paper 8.5 inches wide and 11 inches long.
It might seem as if the stakes for one test are high, but are they really? In the Super Bowl, one team basks in the glory of being the champion. The other team bears the title of loser. Those players won't have a chance to redeem their honor for another year.
It doesn't happen that way with New York's standardized tests. Students who fail a Regents exam aren't labeled losers. They simply have not yet mastered the knowledge and skill needed to be successful in the next phase of their lives -- the next level of study, the next grade in high school, college or a career. And they don't need to wait a whole year to try again. Most of these "high-stakes" tests also are given in June and August.
Another important distinction is that these standardized tests are not competitions. One student's success does not mean another's failure.
The tests are designed simply to measure a student's personal best and how that stacks up against the standard of moving on to the next level. The goal is that every student will be a winner.
These tests are better compared to football tryouts, where players are assessed to see if they are ready to move to the next level of play.
But unlike football players who don't make the cut, students aren't excluded from the team. They can remain in school with all its resources available to help them until they are 21. Few young people who do not have a serious disability would fail to graduate by then. If they want to.
And what about the fans -- the students' families, teachers and community? Many of the same fans who urge their football team to give 110 percent don't want their children to face an academic test at all.
A standardized test destroys creativity, they say. It forces teachers to teach to the test. Well, isn't that exactly what a good coach does? Would we support a coach who doesn't teach players the fundamentals; who doesn't make sure they know, understand and follow the rules; who doesn't prepare them to meet the specific challenges they will encounter; who doesn't have them practice on regulation fields? I think not.
Before we argue about whether teachers should teach to the test, let's look at the tests and decide what is on them that we don't think our students need to know.
Past Regents exams are available on the Internet at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/ testing/hsregents.html. Then we can work with the Education Department to hone the tests into ever-more-precise measures of what students need to know and be able to do.
Each of us can claim that we are champions at what we do if we make up our own rules and define our own playing fields.
But life isn't like that. Contractors have to meet strict building codes. Factory workers have to manufacture goods to exact specifications. And football players have to score touchdowns within official boundaries.
Do standardized tests destroy creativity? On the contrary, these tests, like athletic contests, show the participants where they are strongest and where they most need improvement. Coaches and trainers analyze game results and work with players to get better in weak areas.
Likewise, teachers and parents can analyze test results and work with students. As students become well grounded and strong in the fundamentals of a subject, they have more ability to be creative, just as Mario Lemieux in hockey, Kobe Bryant in basketball or Derek Jeter in baseball can be creative because they understand so well and are so strong in the fundamentals of their sport.
As a society, we place tremendous value on excellence in athletics. We need to teach our children to regard tests not as barriers to be despised and feared, but as tools to help them develop their intellect. We can teach them to welcome tests as opportunities to demonstrate their best, just as athletes are eager to take part in a real game after weeks of practice.
If we put as much enthusiasm into being fans of our students as we put into being fans of our sports teams, we will urge -- no, expect -- them to give 100 percent. And we will believe that if they want to learn and work at learning, they will succeed.
Once we become as adept at celebrating our students' academic successes as we are at celebrating our athletes', everyone will be a winner.
Edith Leet is a Capital Region free-lance writer and editor. She works in the field of testing for the state Education Department and has been a longtime volunteer in the Albany City School District. The views expressed are her own. Her e-mail address is ileet@nycap.rr.com.
— Edith Leet
There are no losers with tough Regents tests
Albany Times-Union
Jan. 26, 2003
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=97110&category=OPINION&newsdate=1/26/2003
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
