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What Parents Can Do
by Roberta Furger
As a parent, it's critical that you know and understand both classroom-based assessments, as well as those mandated by your school district or state department of education. Here are some strategies and resources to further your understanding of assessment.
Investigate classroom assessment practices
Take advantage of parent-teacher conferences and back-to-school nights to talk with teachers about their assessment strategies. Do they use portfolios of student work? Do they conduct performance-based assessments? How do test results inform the way they work with a particular student or group of students? "What Should Parents Know About Performance Assessment?" provides an excellent primer on the many types of performance assessments and their advantages, as well as strategies for improving student performance.
Learn how standardized tests are used in your state and your school district
Questions to ask include the following: Are high-stakes decisions based on student performance on this single measure? Are the state's standardized tests aligned to district and state content standards? Are test results used by administrators and teachers to better inform teaching and learning? How does the school or district use this information to better meet the educational needs of all students? The Education Policy Analysis Archives published an overview on School-Based Standardized Testing, including a brief history of standardized achievement tests and a discussion of the implications of their widespread use as a primary measure of student achievement.
Understand the implication of your child's standardized test scores
Talk to your student's teacher or a district assessment specialist about the implications of test results and possible follow-up action. In his article "Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality," UCLA Professor James Popham suggests that standardized test results can provide parents with useful information about a student's relative strengths and weaknesses across subject areas.
Talk with your child to make sure he or she understands the goals of projects and the outcomes that are expected from new assignments
In their book "But Are They Learning? A Commonsense Parents' Guide to Assessment and Grading in Schools, Richard Stiggins and Tanis Knight emphasize that assessment and grading strategies should be defined at the start of a project -- and in terms that students can understand. Get clarification from the teacher any time your student seems unclear about the expected outcomes for a project or assignment.
Don't rely on a single measure to judge school quality
Although standardized test results are typically used to compare schools and school districts, they provide only one a small piece of the puzzle. "What Makes a Good School? A Guide for Parents Seeking Excellence in Education" offers a detailed -- and much more holistic -- set of criteria upon which to judge school quality.
Resources
"A Better Balance: Standards, Tests, and the Tools to Succeed." This 2001 Education Week report addresses the nationwide standards and accountability movement. It includes the results of a survey of more than 1,000 classroom teachers, along with a comprehensive analysis of statewide practices with regard to standards, assessment, and accountability systems.
National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). Visit CRESST's parents' page for informative reports, links, and articles related to K-12 assessment.
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