HIGH-STAKE ASSESSMENT
HIGH-STAKES ASSESSMENTS
HIGH-STAKES ASSESSMENT
High-stakes assessment is used to measure learning that are cumulative and the assessment have high importance consequences. It involves graduation, grade advancement. High stake assessment is usually used to make important decision about student school or district and educators as well. They are generally standardized test.
Growing up as a student in my country in Nigeria, I was faced with the pressure of passing my exams or repeating the grade level. Most times the intentions for high stake assessment is bias. The pressure I faced were enough to give me bad grades. Teachers in my school were concerned about result more than knowing if students have met with the objective of the lesson. In my school, there was no place for differentiated instruction, students would even have to do extra study on their own, write notes and read on their own, sometimes do all night reading. During my high school days, I had to stay extra hours at night to see that I read all content or chapters of the textbook. It became a routine and usual task for every student if they want to pass the grade level,or they repeat or drop out of school.
We were faced with passing our exams, so we concentrated more on reading to pass exams, most times after reading and preparing for the exams we forget everything because they were all stored in short term memory and the information assimilated were just to pass the exams and after the exams that’s it. Students were not having long lasting retentive memory, we had to do reading groups on our own and most times the brilliant students in the group will tutor the rest of the group. This was also the same even at college level. I remember days I had to stay all night and do intensive reading to be able to score high grades in my exams.
Teachers also put us into competition and they expect that every student should be at the same level, lessons were delivered same for everybody and if you don’t meet up you just have to read up on your own. This process was a little bit hard because the learning environment was not student friendly, struggling students were left behind with no special attention and if they fail the grade level exams they had to repeat the class for the next school year. It was not a fair judgement to assess learning or know if students are meeting up with the learning objective.
The fear of failure triggered students. Fear is not good for learning, it doesn’t improve learning and it doesn’t improve grades. In this system of education, students have a short period of time to cover a whole lot of lessons. When lessons or units are taught, whether students understood or met or did not meet the objectives, teachers move to the next unit. This is one thing I feel is not proper because students should have good knowledge of a unit before moving into the next, because most lessons are prerequisite for the other and if students do not have knowledge of the previous lesson, they will struggle through the next, and they help to prepare students for standardized test or other exams. The tension and time factor of standardized test which students frequently have are factors to be considered when using high stake assessment because these factors can give bad grades.
In my high school, the
expectation was also high on teachers, when students pass a certain subject, the
teacher for that subject is reward and sometimes promoted to hold some certain
positions in the school like being a head teacher or team leader, and any
teacher whose students do badly in a subject are invited for talk in the
principal’s office. It also became a competition among teachers to see whose students get the highest grades.
Back in my days in
school, high stake assessment was used as assessment of learning rather than
assessment for learning. The level of what students know or can do was not
counted but learning was reflected to grade. And conclusions are made on
students with low grade as students who have to repeat class.
For the fear or
repeating or failing, students spend most of their time preparing for exams,
since it was your grades that determines your level and not what you know, or
can do as individual, students do well in the exams or test but have no self-reflection of their learning.
Students competed for
grades and 1st, 2nd or 3rd position in class. High stake assessment here was
only used to measure students’ achievement and not their ability or personal knowledge of the lessons. The pressure from parents are also something else. Every parent in Nigeria expects a 1st position from their children. In elementary, middle and high school, the school year is divided into three trimesters, where each semester have to pass exams and at the end of the year, and pass a general exam that will determine their promotion to the next class.
Comparing the system of education I had in Nigeria and the American system that my school here in Abidjan uses, and working here in International Community School of Abidjan, I appreciate the system, it is quite and extremely different. Learning is mostly student centered. Students explore ideas in the lesson, they do different activities that help them to prepare for test and exams. Learning are always drawn towards real world problems and learning is practical. Learning is aimed at long term, rather than just preparing students for exams. There is a gradual process in the learning and students take time to prepare for exams. One thing I appreciate mostly in the American system of education is the provision for accommodation and modification for students. Students with disabilities and ELL students are considered in learning, this is one thing that is lacking in the Nigerian system of education. My school here in Abidjan also make available materials and resources and teachers are prepared to develop lessons that are student centered, there is student support and no child is left behind. The aspect I do not appreciate is comparing student success to the impact the teacher made.
Times when students make bad grades on SAT is not because they are bad students or dull students, it could be as a result of exam factors like time, pressure, stress or anxiety from students. To me, students should not be rated only by their scores in SAT but also their class performance should speak and reflect what kind of students they are. Some students are not good test takers but they still fall on the top list of best students in class, I am example of such. Teachers also sometimes are put to pressure of passing standard professional exams and most times they might not success. If am to give my opinion, I would say that high stake assessment should not be used to completely judge a student’s performance.
I would also suggest that students be tests by projects, research based work or other performance that allows students to generate ideas within their brains and see how to apply the situations to real world problems. Students will have more long memory knowledge of a lesson than when they just read and prepare for just tests or exams.
Reference
Kamenetz, A. (2015, January 22). The Past, Present And Future Of High-Stakes Testing. Retrieved August 18, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/01/22/377438689/the-past-present-and-future-of-high-stakes-testing
The Glossary of Education Reform., August 18, 2014. " High-stake Test"
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