Reading, Writing, and Multiple Choice

[GulPlum <plumeski@yahoo.com>]

Richelle Votaw wrote:


> In Louisiana, in order to pass fourth grade (9 and 10 year olds) 
> students must pass the LEAP test. No multiple choice, all written 
> response.  It is graded out of state by a team of judges.  If a 
> student does not pass both the Reading and Math portion of the 
> test, they are given the chance to retake the test over the 
> summer.  If they still do not pass, they must repeat fourth grade 
> the next year.  The same thing happens again in 8th grade.  Over 
> the next year or two, they are planning to change the testing 
> format for the other grades, beginning at 3rd grade, to an all 
> written response test.
> 
> As for my first graders, a portion of their Unit test in Language
> is all written response.  Worth 1/3 of the total test, so without 
> it you can't pass the Unit test.  Nice thing about written response 
> is there is partial credit.  And they're forced to think. No such 
> thing for multiple choice.

*Phew*. I'd actually written a lengthy rant after I read Steve's 
message but decided that it was just a little to strident and 
scrapped it. What you say has thankfully restored my faith in some 
kind of sanity in the US educational system. 

One thing you mention, though, sends me off on an anti-British 
education rant for a change.

Specifically, the fact that (like at Hogwarts), if the kids don't 
pass a basic skills test (even upon re-testing), they must repeat the 
year. This is a concept which I find not only sensible, but utterly 
obvious. The entire English education system is predicated on the 
notion that kids born in the same year are all taught together. Our 
system includes the notion of "streaming", whereby "more capable" 
pupils are kept with others of the same level, and "less capable" 
ones are also kept together. English kids are also among the most-
tested schoolkids in the world. 

The problem is that these tests aren't for the purpose of evaluating 
the kids' progress, but the school's. If the child's progress isn't 
up to scratch, then as long as it fits on a statistical curve across 
the whole school, it's fine. Whether or not the child is gaining 
anything from school is irrelevant. 

It filled me with ire when I read last autumn that one in seven 
English school-leavers (aged 16) are functionally illiterate. What I 
want to know is, if they couldn't read, write and count fluently by 
the time they were 11, why were they not given remedial assistance at 
that point? (Like Hogwarts, 11 is the age at which kids change 
schools and start more extensive and detailed study).

What on earth is the point in sending a boy (they're usually boys...) 
who cannot read or write to a school where they're going to start 
talking about Shakespeare and poetry, or algebra and calculus? Such a 
child is not only gaining absolutely *nothing* from being at school, 
but is also a drain on resources and a highly likely troublemaker. 
Get that child to repeat a year and learn the 3 Rs properly, and he 
has an increased chance of becoming a productive and co-operative 
student. 

God, NOTHING about British education makes me angrier than this 
issue, and the fact that there is absolutely ZERO political interest 
(I don't just mean political parties or the government, I mean anyone 
in a position to influence any change at any level) in introducing 
the alternative system which exists in almost every school in almost 
every other advanced country means that absolutely NOBODY is even 
considering it. The politicians, the teachers and the educational 
establishment are forever tinkering at the fringes of the system in 
order to make it "work" better, but it's only making matters worse 
for everyone, not better. Introduce the concept of "fail the test, 
repeat the year" and sure, it becomes a little more expensive in the 
short run, and it causes a few red-faced pupils around the country, 
but it would give everyone the kick up the backside that we all need 
to realise that we are all failing our children!

Rant over. Sorry, I just *had* to get that out of my system.