Comments on: Reading Fluency Thermometers

By: Franki

Franki — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:07:40 +0000

I keep thinking that the testing era has gotten as bad as it will get, but then it seems to get worse. I think we are spending so much time on “testing” that it is sometimes only informing instruction that relates to the kind of test they’ll be assessed on. It is all too narrow. I worry too about the messages we are giving this generation of children about what reading is, what learning is, etc. Thanks for a great post.

By: susan funk

susan funk — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 04:02:28 +0000

Testing run amuck. I’m with you on the informal assessment. It tells us more and it’s free. You’d think that would appeal to the taxpayer and the politician! Of course you would have to trust the teacher. I think that is easier for the parents thatn either of the aformentioned groups. At least the parents have seen the teachers at work. I’ve always been surprised that in surveys of the parents in my hometown the parents are happy and the children are happy but the further away from the school you move the more discontent there seems to be. Struggle on with authentic assesment, you are not alone.

By: Marco Polo

Marco Polo — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:12:57 +0000

Is the point of testing like this for the benefit of the students? The teacher(s)? The parents? Or is it part of the (by now decades-long) de-skilling of teachers, the program of education that requires teachers to be little more than transmitters, executives of the “teacher-proof” prescriptions (manuals included)? The de-autonomization of teachers that says teachers should play no role in curriculum or planning or goal-setting (just shut the *!”_ up and do as you are told)?
I know nothing about DIBELS, but the single phrase “strategic intervention” rings alarm bells for me. And the acronymic nature of DIBELS makes me feel it is intended to be just another acronym, just something else to make teachers rush around like headless chickens, anything to keep them from thinking about what they are doing, or (heaven forbid) actually talking to the own students (”erm, you realize it’s against the law to rely on your own subjective assessments? Go straight to jail, you non-combatant, do not pass GO, do not make any phone-calls or speak to a lawyer”). And next week’s acronym is…