The Sharing
Twice a year the sixers take computerized standardized tests. At the end of the test, their scores appear on their computer screens. The kids spend the rest of the day talking about their scores. Some parents are not too happy about this and, after several complaints, we teachers have been told via the expensive bright orange tagboard memos (all caps) to tell the kids not to "share or compare" their scores. I talked to the kiddos about how they could save me quite a bit of hassle if they kept their scores to themselves but they instantly yak about the scores anyway. Right in front of me. I changed my tactic and asked them to show some discretion about the sharing. No luck there either. Everyone asks the supersmartypants in the crowd their scores and then piece together what their score probably means. I can't say I would do anything different. If we're going to flash the scores in their faces, they're going to talk about them. Deal with it, my friends.
Comments
jw
Or better yet, maybe the kids should not take the test. If the Powers in the Offices are afraid of the post test parent backlash, maybe they should cancel the test all together.
But as all good teachers do, I see a way to turn this into a learning opportunity. The students could share their scores and then learn about mode, mean and median. They could graph data, and discuss ways to change the data. Hell, this might even lead to a discussion about why some kids do better on test than others. Maybe the high scoring kids would want to tutor the low scoring kids and see if they could improve their scores.
Jeff
bleh.