For this assignment, I chose to interview an English teacher
at my school the Rabat American School.
. She is responsible for getting students ready for the IB and SAT
tests. I chose this person because they have been in this school for a
considerable amount of time and therefore have a lot of valuable information
regarding this topic. Here is a list of questions I prepared for the
interview.
1.Does RAS use high stakes assessments ?
2.If yes what types?
3.On an average how much time is spent testing per year ?
4.Are teachers teaching to the test ?
5.Are rewards or bonuses given to teachers whose students
score high?
6.Are students required to pass the test to move to
the next grade or
graduate?
7.How are students handling increasing pressures to perform
?
8. Are test scores used for teacher evaluations?
To begin with our school obviously uses high stakes
assessments or else this interview would not have been possible. The most
common ones are , international baccalaureate
and SAT. Concerning how much time is spent testing per year, There are
internal and external assessments in all IB subjects. The final IB exams take 3
weeks to complete, but there must be approximately 30 hours of additional tests
(oral presentations, exhibitions etc.) during the course of grade 11 and 12. In
addition, teachers are definitely teaching to the test according to my
interview results. Students practice for
assessments (pre SAT) and study exam questions in class. As for teachers, the
reward system is not present at RAS. They do not get any bonus or recognition
even though their students score high on the tests. Although RAS does not
require its students to pass the tests in order to move on to the next grade
level or graduate, most international universities (outside the US) will not
accept students without an IB diploma. These test do cause students to stress
but on the whole they rise to the occasion and do very well. They finish by
being better organized and better able to handle stress in academic situations
and in life generally. Finally test results are not used to evaluate teacher
performance.
I compared my results with those of Kristina Stein who will
be doing her clinical in the Charter School located in Baton Rouge , LA .
Overall there were many similarities and not so many differences
Similarities :
·
Both Schools spend classroom time reviewing
material and preparing students for potential questions they might encounter
during their assessment.
·
Students move on to the next grade level
regardless of their test results
·
Students get anxious and stressed before exams
but both schools put in a lot of effort to get them ready for the tests.
Differences :
·
Student progress
in Baton Rouge is used to for teacher evaluations. At my school this is
not the case.
All in all, both schools are similar in their preparation
methods for high stakes testing. In my
opinion some things are normal and inevitable such as stress and anxiety before
exams. Although students may have studied and prepared well, they do not know
exactly what they will have the day of the exam. I also think that using class
time to prepare students is a great idea. It will certainly lower the
pressure. Like we discussed in the
previous VC class, student’s will to perform well is also key when approaching
these tests. If students have the necessary
knowledge as to how to be better prepared, what questions to ask, how much time
to spend studying, then they should perform well. I know that in my school, teachers do not
rely solely on rubrics when preparing students for these tests. They, show
students how things are done and have students practice them over and over
again. However, the rubric is always present and students, most of the time,
refer to them. This is because they want to get that high score and they want
to see weather it is good enough to get them to the destination they want to go
to after high school .
