The BC grade 10 exam remains in the news. The Vancouver Sun endorsed the test in an editorial on April 2 and today’s Sun carries letters pro and con.
The Sun’s position (see below) that the test opponents’ fears are unfounded is nonsense.
The Sun’s editorial ignores the overwhleming evidence on the distructive effects of high-stakes tests in general.
Moreover, a new study out of Stanford University, released this week, shows when multiple measures (e.g., academic records, portfolios, research projects, capstones projects, oral exams) are used for graduation, rather than a single test, graduation rates and test scores increase.
The Stanford report concludes that “a multiple measures approach to high school graduation offers a more balanced and informative platform for holding students and schools accountable, one that stimulates discussion not only about how to improve curriculum and instruction, but also how to monitor a student’s individual growth and progress, improve preparedness for college, and build readiness for work in the future.”Here is the Vancouver Sun editorial:
Grade 10 provincials help students to develop valuable skills
Saturday, April 02, 2005
The camp opposing Grade 10 provincial exams is getting crowded, but its fears remain largely unfounded.
Surrey school trustees seem poised to join the opposition camp, as they now join the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, the Vancouver school board and the Vancouver district parent advisory council in expressing concerns about the wisdom of requiring Grade 10 students to take the standardized tests.
Opposition to the exams is twofold:
First, opponents worry that instead of focusing on important things like critical thinking, teachers might feel pressured to “teach the test” — to narrow the curriculum to ensure their students perform well on the exams.
Yet students need the ability to think critically to perform well on any exam. So teachers would be ill- advised to skip the fundamentals if they want their students to do well on the provincial tests.
Second, many opponents have expressed concern that the exams might increase pressure on students and thereby boost drop-out rates.
That concern is important enough. It’s possible that we do make too many demands on high school students, but scrapping the Grade 10 exams won’t solve the problem. After all, were the exams eliminated, they would merely be replaced by another form of evaluation.
Further, the tests aren’t likely to place kids under undue pressure since they account for only 20 per cent of students’ final marks (if that’s considered too onerous, it’s always possible to reduce the amount.)
In any case, if pressure really is a serious problem — and that’s something we’d have to study — the only way to solve the problem would be through a thorough curricular review, rather than by eliminating a single set of exams.
There’s also little evidence that the exams boost drop-out rates, and most students perform well on them. According to the Ministry of Education, 88 per cent of students passed English 10 exams, 79 per cent passed science 10 and 90 per cent passed the exam for principles of math 10.
That so many students do well reveals that our teachers and schools are doing something right. That’s one of the benefits of standardized exams — we can see how we’re doing, and we can also identify and assist schools whose students’ performance is sub par.
There’s an even more important reason to retain the exams. Exam writing isn’t just a test of knowledge of critical thinking ability, but is a skill in itself. By taking the Grade 10 exams, students will be better prepared for the Grade 11 and 12 exams (few people seem ready to eliminate the tests in those grades). The Grade 10 exam therefore acts as a dress rehearsal, a chance for students to practise writing a new type of exam before it counts for much.
Whether we like it or not, exams are a fact of life, both in high school and beyond. As such, rather than focusing on the negatives, opponents should recognize that the tests are preparation for the future, a chance for students to develop valuable skills that will help them throughout their lives.
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