Well, folks, I closed the poll about bogus reasons for not teaching effectively. It was a close contest:
- That kind of instruction may be good for some students, but it just doesn’t fit my teaching style. (35%, 34 Votes)
- Students will learn it when they’re ready. (33%, 32 Votes)
Now it’s time to start a new poll. This time we’ll examine bogus reasons for failing to test whether students actually learn what educators say they “teach.”
Often, when educators say that they taught something (”Oh, I taught addition of fractions”), they really mean that they presented some activities, lessons, or etc., and they hoped that students learned from them. But, one cannot really tell whether students have learned without some form of testing, be it a quick-and-clean quiz or a more sophisticated performance evaluation (e.g., crossing streets safely). In this Bogus Bowl, we have several reasons that people give for not testing. Which do you find the most disingenuous?
Which of these is the most bogus reason for not testing whether students have learned what educators purport to teach?
- Tests can never reveal what students have truly learned. (38%, 22 Votes)
- Testing might injure students' self-esteem. (24%, 14 Votes)
- Testing disrupts learning itself. (17%, 10 Votes)
- Some children are just not good test takers. (14%, 8 Votes)
- Testing will take time away from teaching. (7%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 58
Loading ...As with previous BBs, some of the losers (who just might consider themselves winners?) from this poll may reappear in later comparisons. Perhaps later I’ll match one of these winners (or losers) against a winner (or loser) from another Bogus Bowl on Teach Effectively! Please remember that the results of these polls do not provide credible scientific evidence; they simply reflect the opinions of the respondents.
To see the results of all Bogus Bowls and other polls from Teach Effectively, please follow the link labeled “polls” in the top navigation element. Meanwhile, I welcome suggestions for topics for future Bogus Bowls. Just drop ‘em in the comments.
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I voted for the self-esteem choice on the basis of it is the one I’ve heard the most, usually from very well meaning people. Unfortunately, burying one’s head in the sand does not make problems disappear. Testing, is simply a means to answer a simple question “Did the child learn what we taught him and expected him to learn?”. Certainly, results of any testing should be private (it is not the nosy room parent’s business how my child did, nor is it the business of the nosy room parent’s nosy child). But, problems in embarrassing a child lie with a disregard for privacy and confidentiality (or perhaps the way test results are shared with the child), but not with testing (i.e., monitoring a child’s learning).
The notion that testing formally disrupts instruction is strikingly marked for equating all test forms as one and casting instruction or testing as an either/or decision (it is possible that the ‘test’ be made instructive). A logical comparison by counter-example in medicine might be the assertion that one opposes medical examinations for interrupting healthy living.
I didn’t vote, because I think there is an even more disingenuous argument against testing out there, to wit: testing will cause teachers to teach to the test, and perhaps even cheat on the tests. My vote goes to this argument because it is so cynical.
“Where are the parents in all this?” an indignant principal demanded when I complained that her students didn’t use good grammar. And so: What are the most bogus roles for parents of school children?
1. Teach the children grammar.
2. Help the children with grammar/arithmetic/whatever
3. Build show-and-tell volcanoes for them
4. Explain whatever the teacher has failed to explain about whatever subject.
5. Supply money for field trips
Frank, I like the idea of a poll or two about parents. Maybe one could have to do with parents’ contributions to low performance and another with duties for helping their children.