STANDARDIZED TESTING 101

FINAL EXAM

Use a No. 2 pencil. Write on loose-leaf or blank paper. No dictionaries. No talking. No food. No chewing gum. No fun.

EDST 101 Final ExamShort answer

1. What provincial exams do secondary students have to take in order to graduate?

True/False

2. UBC considers the English 12 provincial mark when determining admission. (T/F)

3. Students receive $1000 from the provincial government for receiving an “A” on three Grade 12 provincial exams. (T/F)

Long answer

4. Write a multi-paragraph, unified, coherent, persuasive, awesome response on the following prompt.

High stakes, externally-determined standardized testing affects classroom teaching in many ways.

Standardized Testing: The Effects of

Provincial Exams on Classroom Teaching

Basic Facts about The Provincial Exams

Required Provincial Exams

Math 10 Science 10 English 10

Socials 11

English 12

High Stakes

Worth 20% of final mark.

Required for graduation (5 exams).

Receive $1000 for receiving an “A” on three Grade 12 provincial exams.

Not So High Stakes

“Only” worth 20% of final mark.

Can retake exams.

Can defer the exam.

A lot of flexibility.

Canadian universities no longer look at provincial marks.

UBC & SFU Requirements

Only English 12 (or equivalent) provincial required.

Provincial exam grades will only be considered if it increases your mark (including English 12).

https://you.ubc.ca/ubc/vancouver/bcyt.ezc

http://www.surrey.sfu.ca/undergraduate/admission/examfaq

English 10 & 12

Karen Kloske's Presentation: The Effects of ESL Errors on Holistic Scoring and Decision-Making Behaviors by Markers of Grade 12 'Original Composition' Essays in British Columbia (ESL PSA Conference, October 22, 2010)

ESL Errors

Errors that ESL students make that native speaker students don’t.

Eg: “a” vs. “the”

Problems with Reliability

Discrepancy between class mark and provincial mark is much greater for ESL students.

Markers were less consistent in the marks they gave to compositions by ESL students.

Not enough ESL examplars in training papers.

Rating scale written for native speakers.

Problems with Validity

What are we actually testing here?

Problems with Validity

What are we actually testing here? Knowledge of dominant culture.

Classroom Implications (Washback)

Increase dominant culture content.

Reduce ESL Errors.

Do lots and lots of practice exams.

Karen Kloske’s Recommendations to Students

Do the essay question first and write a really good opening paragraph.

Write simply and formulaically; don’t take risks.

Hide the fact that you are ESL: Don’t write notes/outlines in other languages. Write the e-exam to hide handwriting. Don’t reference cultural past.

Karen Kloske’s Recommendations to Teachers

Have confidence in your classroom evaluation. Do not feel that you have to lower your classroom marks to reduce the discrepancy with exam marks.

Be able to defend the discrepancy based on the provincial standards and knowledge of the exam disadvantages for ESL students.

Believe in formative assessment!

Karen Kloske’s Recommendations to the BC Ministry of Education

Follow example of other provinces: Dictionaries for all students. Bilingual dictionaries for ESL students. Extended time.

Reduce dominant culture content.

Review assessment criteria.

Review Assessment Criteria

“Applying different criteria to ESL and NS writing, specifically in regard to language use, doesn’t mean “lowering standards.” Rather it means ensuring that our assessment criteria reflect what we know about language acquisition, about academic literacy, about the distinctions between communicative competence and language correctness.” (Dr. Sweedler-Brown 1993)

What is Washback?

= the influence that a test has on the way students are taught.

What is Washback?

What are some examples of washback? Is all washback negative? Does washback affect all students equally?

Negative Washback

“Many teachers knowingly sacrifice understanding for coverage.” (Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom, Shirley Clarke)

“Norm-referenced tests only produce rankings, not what students really know or what they can demonstrate they know….If test scores must be published, then…put them in the proper section of the newspaper: The Sports Page.” (“What is the real purpose of standardized testing?”, Ray Shindell Teacher Newsmagazine, http://bctf.ca/publications/NewsmagArticle.aspx?id=11406)

Positive Washback

"When...learning is assessed relative to an outside standard, students no longer have a personal interest in getting teachers off track or in persuading each other to refrain from studying."

"When a [standardized test] is in place, exam results displace social class as the primary determinant of school reputations, and this in turn should induce school staff to give enhanced learning higher priority."

The American Economic ReviewVol. 87, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Hundred and Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May, 1997), pp. 260-264 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2950928

Positive Washback

“As a student teacher, I used to believe that evaluation practices should not drive teaching, but now [as a teacher] not only do I realize how much they do, but that the evaluation practices should reflect what students have been taught in the classroom. There is a connection between this and the provincial exam.”

Professionalism and High-Stakes Tests: Teachers' Perspectives When Dealing With Educational Change Introduced Through Provincial Exams.

TESL Canada Journal; Spring2006, Vol. 23 Issue 2, p54-76, 23p, 2 Charts http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=ehh&AN=21090386&login.asp&site=ehost-live

The Ministry of Education says…

“The goal [of introducing the Grade 10 provincial exams] is to improve graduation rates and student achievement….Lowering expectations is not the answer to improving graduation rates.”

“After blending classroom marks with provincial exam results for Grade 10 students who wrote the exams in January 2005, overall pass rates were higher than they would have been if final letter grades were determined by classroom marks alone.”

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/exams/grade10examfaqs.pdf

Math 10

Math 10 Provincial Question

Math 10 Provincial Question

Math 10 Provincial Question

Social Studies 11

Socials Essay Questions

Describe the steps that led to Canada achieving autonomy from Britain. Use examples from the period 1914 to 2000.

Explain the challenges facing Canadians as they attempt to reduce the impacts of global warming.

Explain the difficulties that developing nations experience as they try to break the poverty cycle.

Societal Perceptions

Why is B.C. big on standardized testing?

a) weak teachers' unionsb) demographics c) politics d) all of the above

Societal Perceptions

Why is B.C. big on standardized testing?

a) weak teachers' unionsb) demographics c) politics d) all of the above

For Your Perusal

Training Papers for markers of the English 10 provincial

Last year’s English 10 provincial

“Chinese speaking ESL students fare very well in the school system even with limited English proficiency, whereas Spanish, Vietnamese and Philippino language speaking students navigate weaker academic trajectories that are further diminished by limited English proficiency.”

http://mbc.metropolis.net/assets/uploads/files/wp/2008/WP08-02.pdf

Write a multi-paragraph response

Do you find Kaiúmers to be heroic? Why or why not?

Examination Rules