Interview 1: Interview of a School District Administrator
The school administrator I had the opportunity to interview works for a Terry Sanford High School with Cumberland County Schools. The reason to selecting this administrator is because in this district many tests are taken from elementary all the way to high school. Also, the diversity of the students’ population demands that the school considers cultural differences and modifications when testing their students. The schedule she provided starts in August and ends in May.
At the beginning of the year, students at different levels are tested under the Credit by Exam or grade level advancement. The test is required by the state to determine if students can be advanced to the next grade. I noticed these exams are required by the state and take place in three other occasions during the year. Those tests are administered in August, October, January and April.
English Language Learners are identified as required by Federal and state laws during the month of August and September. This testing determines their language placement and adjusts their learning experience to those needs. Students from Grades 6-11 are administered testing every six weeks in all different subjects to determine the level of advancement they have reached according to the curriculum used by the District. These tests are considered local and take place and used to determine if students are progressing according to the curriculum instruction and standards they have been provided.
During the month of October, students are administered diverse state required testing. Starting with the PSAT, for grades 9-11 are required to determine their college readiness. The state requires that students eligible for TAKS take the exit level in Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies. December includes testing for students between the grades 9-12 called the STAAR required by the state. Students in Grade 11 can take their SAT exam in March to determine their College Readiness is the local option for them. During the rest of March, exit level student eligible for TAKS take their state assessment. This test is followed by the TELPAS for grades 2 - 12 ELLs. In March this is a State Assessment requirement. The end of course STAAR is a State Assessment that takes place at the end of the year. ELL Exit Window which is also known as the (NC) testing is administered to students between Grades 2 & 11 as required by the state and the federal government. Advanced placement testing is also administered in various subjects for students between the grades 9-12. These testing determine students’ college readiness in multiple subjects according to College Readiness -Based on Local Curriculum.
The state allows coded accommodations for students with IEPs, Section 504 Plans, or current ELL status; nevertheless all students are eligible for testing. However, there are exceptions in which students are excepted as this would make a particular test invalid. Nevertheless, she explained that the determination of testing accommodation is made based on the needs of the student and in accordance with the accommodations students receive on a daily basis during instruction. Students under special education require that the admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) committee determine if the student can take the test and which accommodations are necessary for it, all this information should be documented in the student individualized education program. Another requirement for the accommodations is that they are described in the test administration material.
Testing and assessment practices are detailed to classroom teachers. As a matter of fact, they are trained during specific days to ensure they are aware of all the details involved in administering the different tests to their students. Tenure teachers also share their experiences and testing results are sent to students with specific information on how to interpret each text result sent to them. In doing so, the school is providing parents with the necessary tools to understand how students compare to their group, and explain the test results to their children if they consider convenient and ask teachers any questions or present their concerns to them. The school testing results are discussed in general with the class; however, teachers are not allowed to provide specifics to the class in terms of the results of other students. However, parents and teachers discuss the results confidentially at students’ conferences and teachers provide parents with certain guidance on how parents can guide their children to support their development at home.
The data obtain from these testing affects teaching and learning because they are used as indicators of the effectiveness of the teaching strategies being implemented, as well as the students learning experience. Testing results can affect the curriculum coverage which could affect the nature of teaching strategies and limit the students learning. Other effects are that in some classrooms teachers could spend more time teaching students taking testing strategies.
Parents are engaged in the decisions needed to improve students’ performance to succeed in school in the future. The school district encourages parents to present their questions and concerns related to their children school development and how they see their improvement in the future. In all, the culture and climate of school is one of collaboration as test results are discussed and best practices shared in terms of making the best use of testing and assessment data.
INTERVIEW 2
The interview of school administrator regarding assessment practices was an eye opening experience because of the number of tests that take place during the year in the selected school district. Many cases are state mandated testing. In addition, teachers need to test students every six weeks to determine their progression in terms of the academic curriculum. However, there was one aspect of the interview that was not clear because after considering the different tests students have to complete, one could consider that they spend an excessive amount of time completing diverse tests. Although, the interviewee stated it was possible to provide the necessary instruction and administering all those tests, I still need to do some additional researchon the topic to be sure that these days’ students receive the required learning experience to master the required skills for different years. The fact that the school population is highly diverse makes observers wonder if those teachers spend a lot time in adapting their teaching strategies to fulfill the learning needs of their students.
Another area in which the school district does an excellent job is in sharing the data with teachers and parents because this provide that all teachers are on board in terms of learning how the school is doing in general, and sharing best practices among them. Involving parents by communicating the test results helps them contribute to their children education by reinforcing at home some of the areas in which their students require additional support. In general, the school district has made it clear that assessment should be used to enhance teaching by implementing strategies that are focused on the students’ needs and that promote that all students get a fair treatment when it comes to evaluating their different abilities.
In concluding, one can state that teachers need to have an open minded approach when it comes to developing performance based assessments because they need to consider many factors that could help them collect information from diverse sources and provide a more objective evaluation that could enhance learning and help create and implement strategies that could benefit the students learning in the long term. Ultimately, each school administrator and teacher will develop their own perspectives towards district-wide testing and assessment practices, because their approach has been affected by their personal and professional experiences while teaching.
Interview 3: Interview of a Teacher Regarding Assessment Practice(THIS IS DUE THE SAME DAY AS THE BENCHMARK ASSIGNMENT)