Friday, July 25, 2008
Flax
Posted March 17th, 2008 by Arnold Aprill
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Educational testing tends to be time consuming, nerve-wracking, humiliating, and boring, but above all, expensive - eating up resources that might be better used for teaching and learning. And just last week Chicago Public Schools was embroiled in a conflict over having to give newly arrived immigrants high stakes standardized tests in English, and only in English. So in the spirit of reducing the level of legal misappropriation of public funds, here are a few “cheap tests” that could save the State of Illinois a lot of cash (which it sorely needs), and provide a little succinct poetic justice to boot:
Test # 1: THE TEN SECOND SCREAM TEST: Walk into any school with a digital recorder, and capture the first ten seconds of sound that reverberates through the hallways of the school once you pass through the front door. If at any time during that ten-second period, the recorder registers an adult screaming with bitter accusation at a child, you can be certain of several statistically significant findings: low test scores, high student mobility, low job satisfaction, high teacher turnover, and very little arts programming. These findings will correlate directly with both the volume of the screaming and the number of screamers. The findings will not correlate with poverty levels (there are schools in poor neighborhoods that don't scream at students, and schools in privileged neighborhoods that do). The findings will correlate with levels of contempt for children.
Test # 2: THE TORN SCREEN DOOR TEST: If the screen to the front door of any home is torn, the residents of that home have limited access to social services.
Test # 3: FLAX: The source of this last test is the out of print classic “How to Survive in Your Native Land” by the late, incomparable education writer James Herndon, who also penned the equally important and equally out of print “The Way It Spozed to Be”. Go find copies in a library or in a used bookstore or on ebay or wherever. Go find them and read them. It will do you good. (Used copies are selling on www.amazon.com, literally for a penny).
“…Flax is what school is all about…I never knew what flax was, but I knew that if I kept it in mind and wrote it down a lot and raised my hand and said it a lot, I would be making it...I think you could make up an entirely new Achievement Test…Just pass out a sheet with the word ‘flax’ printed on it in big letters and count the seconds it took for a kid to raise his hand.”
And just as testing is expensive for the test takers, it is lucrative for the test makers. Here's another little test we might try: pass out a sheet with the words "Contract for Measuring Annual Yearly Progress in Student Achievement on Standardized Tests" printed on it in big letters to a room full of educational vendors, and count the seconds it took for an account executive to raise his hand.
Arnold Aprill
Founding and Creative Director
Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education
www.capeweb.org
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Testing and The College Board
Arnie's comments on testing are right on. Your common sense tests are very illuminating. For seven years I volunteered on The College Board's Arts Advisory Committee. Aside from my interest in seeing what the world of the "enemy" was like on the inside, I was astonished to see how bright, earnest and dedicated the arts people around the Board and Educational Testing Service were. They, and I, fought like the dickens to change the testing game for the arts, and to have the successes we anticipated from the arts infiltrate into other testing. We failed. Because the kinds of deeper, more illuminating, more rewarding-to-the-learner, kinds of tests were less financially viable. They were awkward and hard to administer, so they never lifted off even though everyone agreed they were better. In some ways, these were "the best and the brightest" of the testing world, and they just got squashed by the profit motive Arnie cites.
The one interesting exception is the Adavanced Placement exam in Visual Arts. The only AP scored by rubric of a yearlong portfolio. It is highly accurate, quite profitable, and very challenging to The College Board as a whole that it works so well--and that it actually deepens the learning along the way. It is completely transparent, includes assessment of originality and artistic vision, and works even for tens of thousands of learners.
Aside from money and testing, what do schools really need?
Let's go from A-Z:
A- accreditation (seriously, by credible professionals), appreciation for great administrators, teachers, staff and students, and most importantly, the ARTS!
B-right, Talented and Inspired Teachers who are willing to help encourage students to be at their BEST!
C-reative Thinking opportunities for everybody in the system! Maybe we could think of other more authentic ways aside from standardized testing to measure student achievement!
D-ecrease dropout rates by introducing more engaging performing and visual arts programs in our public schools!!!
E-ffective assessment methods that are both authentic, ongoing and student-centered
F-unctional Analysis Plans or Behavior intervention Plans that actually build on students' strengths and talents and not their faults and weaknesses.
G-rowth in terms of UPDATED professional development for teachers and staff, more arts integration in our classrooms, cross-curricular active student learning through the arts, relationship-building and collaboration among teachers, administrators, staff, students and their families.
H-appy Moments in Teaching and Learning
I-nvisible Investments Made Visible
J-ustice for All!
K-nowledge beyond the 4-walls of the classroom!
L-ove for All Mankind!!! Stop the Violence!!!
M-others, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Guardians---Strong Family Involvement!
N-ew Methods and Strategies that Address the Needs of the Current Generation.
0-rganization.
P-ride in local school achievements (once again, make the invisible visible!!!)
Q-uestions that will lead to more questions (with a focus on overall school improvement with the arts in mind)
R-eading, Writing and Relationships!
S-olutions!
T-ruth--both in print and in verbal form.
U-sher in more community partnerships to support the needs of our local school communities.
V-ictories Everyday!
W-onderful Work by the students and their families, teachers, staff and the administrators!
X-cellence in all aspects!
Y-es to the arts!!!
Z-oom up to success by working collaboratively!
......and the list goes on......