Report cards for OCDSB schools – use with caution…

4 Comments

1. New school rankings! | Trashy's World says:

   March 8, 2012 at 12:20 pm

   […] Read a previous post I wrote on the value of these rankings. […]

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2. The Fraser Institute’s ranking of secondary schools | Trashy's World says:

   May 10, 2011 at 12:29 pm

   […] The Fraser Institute’s ranking of secondary schools Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginI have posted the rankings for the elementary schools in the OCDSB in a past entry and the same cave… […]

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3. SD says:

   March 27, 2011 at 11:47 am

   I agree with your thoughts.

   I will add that last week, I supply taught a couple of grade-three classes where I had to teach students how to understand key-words that will appear on the EQAO tests, and how to give effective responses using the APE (Answer-provide text Proof-Extend with connections from your own life). I had to teach them strategies on what to do if one gets stuck on a question.

   “Read the question again. Look at key words. Skip to the next question.”

   What do students do if they cannot spell certain words?

   Are students allowed to write a response outside the box or lines?

   I would estimate that about half of the marks students receive on the EQAO tests are based on the ability to respond to questions according to how the EQAO examiners want students to respond–the mechanics. The other half is based on knowledge of the content and critical thinking. If teachers did not teach their students how to respond effectively to EQAO test questions, the students would perform poorly on those tests even if they understood the content.

   I would love to see two grade-three or grade-six teachers split their students for two weeks. The students could be split so that there would be an equitable distribution of boys and girls with high, medium, and low academic standings. During those two weeks, the teachers would teach one group test taking strategies while the other group would review curriculum content. The teachers would switch in the teaching of test taking strategies and curriculum content while the students would remain focused on test strategies or the curriculum. I would guess that the students who took two weeks of intensive test strategies would perform better than those who learned or reviewed the curriculum.

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   1. trashee says:

      March 29, 2011 at 9:01 am

      And that is the problem with any type of standardized test. Being standardized, the content is more or less known beforehand. I work in the Public Service and they way we are “promoted” is through something called a “competitive process” whereby anyone who believes they are quailified for a higher level position can apply and go through what we call a “Board”. The Board usually consists of a test and an interview and because the process needs to be fair, the same questions are asked of each candidate who is screened in to the test/interview phase.

      But, we’ve all done this at least a few times and we more or less know what the questions will be beforehand. And yes, there is training available – formal and more informal – on how to pass a Board.

      So the question becomes, was a candiate successful on a Board because he or she was best qualitified – or are were they simply better prepared for the Board questions? This is why, in recent years, references have played a more important role in assessing whether or not a candidate is ready for the next level of responsibility.

      In my mind, this is very similar to standarized testing in schools. There will be those schools whose staff may be more focussed on success from a EQAO point of view and those that are not so concerned. And there are those schools where the students are of a background that is not suited to the types of questions asked on the tests, and those schools where the questions are easily understood and related to.

      These tests can be valuable – but as only one piece of the puzzle and the the entire picture.

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