Testing Testing!

Today is Wednesday and our school schedule turned normal again. For the past two days the students have been testing. The tests that our students take are much like the standardized tests taken in the states. One difference is the tests my students took won’t be sent to the district. Only government schools are required to do so. Also, the tests taken by government schools are comparable to the ones our students took, but they are put out by a different company.

Rwentutu uses the tests to monitor student improvement. The students will take another test at the end of the term. The staff then will then analyze the student performance on the final assessments alongside the midterm assessments. This will help determine whether a student advances or not.

The big difference in the standardized testing that was evident had to do with not the test itself, but the way it was administered. The explanations and rules were much more lax than they are when students take standardized tests back home. The students were basically given the tests and told to begin. There was really no instruction about any directions or even a reminder about the time limitation. The noise restrictions were even more lax. Though the teachers in the classrooms encouraged quiet rooms, even the little bit of chatter that you could hear, especially as people finished, would not be tolerated during American standardized tests, from my experience anyway.   

Lastly, the testing environment was different. Once other classes finished they would take to the playground. Because the playground is right outside the glassless windows, there was really no buffer for noise or distractions. Students here are not identified with learning disabilities of any sort, and no one has accommodations made for testing. It was obvious that some students suffered more from the distractions than others. So the feel of testing was similar in that students tested for much of the day, and it was taken seriously by the staff and students. The only real differences were environmental and the process by which the test was administered. The highlight of the math test was when baby even wandered into the classroom with a stick and started hammering at a desk the some students were sitting at. 

This year they decided to try something new too. Normally, testing is mixed with regular classes. This term though, the days were just for testing. This proved to be very inefficient in my opinion. Many of the kids finished early, and the breaks were super long. It was nice for grading, but the students missed out on too much instructional time. I’m sure we will discuss at the Friday staff meeting.

One thing that was nice was to see how excited the students were to get their scores. Oh yeah, another difference with the tests is that the teachers mark them. So because I teach English and Math, I marked their tests for both subjects. Their English test was on Monday and their Math test was Tuesday. As I marked, whether it be sitting by a window or in the back of a classroom, I could feel the eyes upon me from all around. Sitting in the teacher room students would try to be sneaky and stand to the side of the window—peering in to catch a glimpse of the scores. It was so funny because it was so obvious, yet they were trying to be sneaky about it. When they were told their scores, they were thrilled if it was higher than they had expected.

So not only is obtaining the scores from these tests exciting for the kids, it is exciting for the staff too. Teachers use these tests to assess how they are performing in the classroom. I was super excited to see the scores the students received. So you can imagine my disappointment when many of the scores were much lower than I had estimated. Granted they mostly did well on the specific topics that I taught, I still felt I could have worked harder to get their scores up. Herein lies one of the controversies of standardized testing—teaching to the test. Had I know what was on the test, would I have taught an array of topics with what my School of Education colleague Dave would call a “mile wide but inch deep” curricular attitude? Maybe. Especially because these tests, especially the end of the year exam, will be the deciding factors on their advancement in school. It’s what they need to know to be successful in school. And for the record, I don’t want to teach to any test, I just want them to comprehend.

Anyway, going into the test I had hoped that most students would get 80% or above. In English 10 of my 27 students were above 80%, 11 above 60%, and 6 were below 60%. In Math7 of the 27 scored above 80%, 12 above 70%, 5 between 50% and 70%, and 3 below 50%. As I began marking, I felt bad that some of the scores were so much lower than I had expected, but two other teachers assured me that 60’s and especially 70’s were still good. Regardless of what is considered good, as you mark you see the huge gaps in what students should know for some of their ages. I want to cover everything that was on the test so they don’t fail to do the same concepts on the final exam (and so they actually understand them), but there is just so little time. It is overwhelming that I have now seen an overall assessment of what they know compared to what the country curriculum expects them to know, and I only have two more weeks in the classroom with them. Deep Breath. I can just do the best I can to insure they learn the concepts I have the time to teach.

Personally, this test was helpful because I was able to notice gaps created from my own teaching. For example, the last English unit that I taught covered positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives. It was good to see that nearly everyone got all the questions right about them on the test…EXCEPT for one! When they were asked to write the superlative form of beautiful, I saw: beautifulest, beautifuliest, much beautiful, much beautifullest, and only a few most beautiful(s). Instantly, I was kicking myself because I knew I did not stress the exceptions for adding “est” enough. It would have taken just a little extra focus in class, but it would have saved everyone marks and they would have better understood superlative form. There were a few others where it was instantly clear how I had incompletely taught a concept.

I have more time to think about the tests and what they mean for me and my students. We also have a staff meeting on Friday where we will discuss how our classes did with each subject, and how we will address it as the lead teachers. I am looking forward to hearing what others have to say, and discussing the performance of the student body as a whole. It will be an opportunity to learn more about our school and to learn from the other teachers.

With testing the past two days we also had some extra time to finish reorganizing the library. All the books are now labeled with colored labels, and organized into categories. Now both the students AND STAFF will have an easier time locating age and topic appropriate books. It was in such shambles when we arrived, and we are pretty proud of it! I brought a few students at a time in there today and modeled how to pick a book and put it back. We are really hoping the system stays in place once we leave. It is such a positive improvement. 

Some Serious Library Action Happening Right Here