Ihave been teaching in Colorado for 5 years now, and as both a parent and teacher,I understand the value of the CSAP test along with the incredibly poor uses to which it may be put. As a member of the NM State Educational Assessment Committee for seven years, with 25 years experience as a high school science teacher and a Master's degree in testing and assessment, I find the Colorado testing systemlittle different from most; a good tool used the wrong way.
A hammer is good for hitting nails, but not for splitting hairs. The useful information available from the test developers is not explained correctly to either teachers or parents.Heaven forbid we allow studentstheright to use the informationto learn what strengths and weaknesses the test can actually help find!Instead, thetest, costing each district a large portion of its budget, is usedto "grade" schools - and incorrectly at that.Parents need to research and become educated about the meaning of the scores on standardized tests.
In my Douglas County classroom I was ordered to teach specific test material to the detriment of other, more usefulscience.Hours of meetings were spent on setting up a party atmosphere for the week of testing, but no teacher was given the mandatory testing guide or asked to sign materials in and out of security, as testing guidelines insist. Parents were not guided through the individual student's test scores in a meaningful way, instead, the school touted the "rise" ofgroups as a method to advertise school-wide achievement. Bosh! When a student's scores rise from the 30th percentile infifth grade to the 50th percentile in the sixth, why aren'tparents shown that a 20%increase has occurred, instead of being told, "Your son/daughter is at or below 50% of all others."?
A CSAP score is only useful for measuring a narrow range of student skills. It does not say whether or not they are good as group members, or whether they have knowledge not included in the 40 questions which make up the entire science score. Attach to this the fact that some teachers actually cheat( Oh yes, it's true) by reading the test ahead of time and using the vocabulary words in class, and you have exactly NOTHING...
The best correlation research has shown for the test scores; nearly one to one with family income. The best way to raise test scores - give all "low " scoring students 60,000 dollars more a year in family median income.
********People are complaining that theCSAPtests are bad. The test isn't bad, it's what hangs on the test. Teacher evaluationand school functionability are left to a student's desire to do well on these tests. If your job hung on the results of the CSAPtests, wouldn't you try to help the students get prepared? Students have no accountability to the results other than a score. We should tie attendance, grades and CSAP scores topassing a student to the next grade. You must have positive results in two of the three areas. This would add some desire to thestudents to try harder. As a History teacher, I can tell you that each year classes have different "personalities". We are sometimes comparing apples to oranges. ********Hello, I agree with many viewers who disagree with the CSAP. I feel that every student is different and are at different stages of learning in their life. It is unfortunate that our Governor feels he can improve these student's education by administering a test and then punish the school that didn't score very high by publicly acknowledging this. It is just really sad.I am also very close to many of my past teachers from elementary school because they were such an influential part of my learning. And I can guarantee they didn't go by the book when teaching, and those moments of them stepping out of the box and making their teaching really personal is what I remember most. Not those tests or anything, but them putting their whole heart into teaching. And I feel these tests have really caused them to hold back and teach by a standard that doesn't always work. And it is unfortunate, many of the great teachers from my elementary school are retiring or have retired because of our Governor. He is not a teacher and therefore he does not understand what students and schools need to succeed. He is looking at it from a political stand point and he is totally off base. You can't improve a child's education by a test because each child is different. I can tell you right now that our school system will be better off once he is no longer Governor. And many teachers and parents cannot wait for that day either.********I think CSAP is a waste of time for students and teachers. Many schools only teach what is on the CSAP so that means those students miss out on other learning. Isn't the whole idea for a child to receive a well-rounded education? I was reading the article on your website about how schools are possibly going to take away activities if kids do not do well on CSAP. How positive is that? What kind of message does that send for our children? First of all teachers are the ones that decides how well kids like school? I have experienced where my child was only in the 5th grade and hated school. It had to do with the teacher. We moved to another school and the teacher my child had in the 6th grade was awesome. The teacher makes a difference. Our children need good role-models especially in today's society. IF a teacher is not a good role model a student will not learn whether the student is taking the CSAP or performing ordinary school work on a daily basis. CSAP does not weed out the bad teachers? There are lots of teachers out there that should not be teaching. A student has to want to go to school and like school. I also think parents play a huge part. IF parents are not involved in what there child does in school or life in general then there child will not care about anything. Parents need to be more involved with there child.We as a society put a lot of stress to do well in school. I feel the kids today have more pressures than when I was growing up. It seems like we got to be kids not worrying about being pressured to do good on tests like the CSAP.********It is a waste of time and money and energy. The schools are behind and that is a reflection of the board and their direction for teaching.If schools would put emphasis on classes and homework to prepare students for graduation as well as college a lot of these problems would be eliminated. Late starts for schools are jokes – these teacher should meet either before or after classes or on weekends to get accomplished what they are trying to accomplish by having a later start for classes.Your interview with the school administrator this morning was a joke. She avoided giving a straight answer and she sounded like a politician. That is one of the problems – not accepting responsibility or admitting the testing doesn't work.********As a fourth grade literacy teacher in DPS I have a very hard time with the CSAP. I have a handful of students who are reading below grade level, although they have made huge gains this school year. Then, I hand them a test they have difficulty reading and they look at me as though I was lying when I told them I was so proud of the improvements they have made in reading. This has happened each year I have given this test to my below grade level students. I work so hard to build up their confidence all year and then CSAP often kills it.I also struggle with the fact that so often the vocabulary is a challenge for my second language learners. A large percentage of our students are ESL students and the words on CSAP are often not everyday words. It kills me when they ask what a word means and I can't tell them and they sit there beating themselves up because they can't fully understand what the questionis asking. Lastly, the students who were most prepared stayed after school everyday for an hour of CSAP Camp. I taught Reading and Writing CSAP Camp and felt my time with the students could have been spent on much more enriching activities than the fact that the word "selection" will be used in place of "passage" on the test.I could go on, but I understand this is a reality if I want to continue teaching in public schools. (I am considering leaving the public schools largely due to standardized tests.)********I work amp; have kids inthe public schools. My IB student has a 4.0 all year and finds the CSAP tough. Teachers find it tough. The administering of the test has so many 'don'ts and cant's" in the instructions they are often overlooked or ignored as these are all done on an honor system. Everyone is followiing them to the letter. YEAH, RIGHT. You can't, and it's not fair, to grade a student or school on one test. As a matter of fact, when I got myother daughter's first CSAP as below proficient results I called with concern, the cover letter and the lady I talked with said this one test is not an accurate measure of their education, but to also talk to the teacher and check their classwork papers. Schools are graded unfairly and then labeled by students and parents amongst themselves unfairly as either good or bad. Our school is low, but it's excellent and we will not change because of a CSAP score, but lots of families are running out to a better graded school. One test? Get real!********CSAP is a good test; it's just too long. Each test requires three sessions. This means that fifth graders have a total of twelve sessions. It doesn't take that much testing to determine whether or not students have the skills they need. ******** Questions that need to be answered:When does the classroom teacher receive the test scores for his/her students?What is done with the tests results?Teacher in-service? Student evaluation? Individual student needs assessment? Individual student assistance?Are scores compared from year to year for each individual student? And...a positive step taken to help the student improve in specific areas?Is the classroom teacher given adult help with students in need, so he/she may continue the curriculum for that year?Has it been proven to actually help the individual student in the classroom?Are school administrators getting involved in the teaching process?and more.....********My children were just graduating, before we moved to Colorado. However, I feel all states should have there own way oftesting students such as Colorado's CSAP. It also makes sence to have a state wide way of measuring a students academic level and more so I feel when a family moves within the state, you know the samequality of education will be provided.******** I think the CSAP tests are a waste of time. Schools are still graduating kids that can't read, write, or make change for a dollar. I took the Iowa tests and can do all of the above. Make the kids learn the basics and learn them well. Go back to the old ways of teaching and stop spoiling these kids. ********My children are in 3rd and 5th grade. Theyhave been studying for the CSAP test since last fall when school began. They schools are taking time from my children's education toteach the CSAP test. The CSAP test is no longer about our children and making sure the schools are teaching at the same level and curriculum. To the schools itis about funding and making sure that they continue to receive there funding in our schools and no longer focusing on our children. My 10 year old son told me just 2 weeks ago about the pressure he was feeling from his school onhow well he needed to do on the CSAP. My daughter just last week brought home a Pre-CSAP test that she was graded on which was the second Pre-CSAP test that I had seen in the last 2 months.The reason for the CSAP was for the schools to be graded on how well they are doing ateducating my children. The Department of Education needs to start looking at thedrive they are instilling in our teachersthat is not focused on children but money. ********My daughter was so worried about these tests all weekend long that I actually thought about pulling her out of school during the testing period. I feel that the school staff puts too much pressure on the kids.I don't need them to tell my kids what time to go to bed or what kind of food they should be eating during this time. They don't speak up about those topics the rest of the year! In addition, I feel the teaching is specifically designed to the standards of the CSAP test and there are alot of lessons missing as a result. Thank you 9News for addressing the Csaps this year! />
