I use the standardized test I do because it's an easy test to pass. Because it's such a simple test, I'm tweaked by every answer the children get wrong. This year they scored perfectly (20 right out of 20 problems) in every language arts area. Their math results weren't so good.
This test has two math parts, conceptual understanding and computation skills. The children scored high in math concepts. They didn't score low on computation, but they were average. Before you panic about the high standards to which I am holding my children, let me reiterate that this is a very easy test. They really should have gotten perfect math scores across the board.
I'm even more disturbed that they all got bad scores in the same area. These kids don't think about math the same way. It has to be a flaw in my teaching.
I had a similar experience with math, though I administered what is known as a "less easy" test. I can think of a couple of flaws in my teaching (largely a curriculum flaw/failure to supplement, really), which I'm going about rectifying now. OTOH, some of it is that my oldest is very resistant to timed anything. Since I don't have to report these scores, I used this as his wake-up call as well as mine. He knows he didn't have to miss most of those problems...that the test is a poor reflection of his computation skills. He seems to be internalizing that as something he'd like to change.
ReplyDeleteI think we have this problem because we have stubborn resistance to the kind of mindless repetition meant to develop computational speed.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think was missing, and how are you rectifying it?