LETTER FROM TEACHERS REGARDING THE RETURNING OF TESTS:
Elsewhere on this web site is the letter from the Chairman of the English Department at Taylor High School regarding her opinion on this matter. After Mr. Kroll spoke at the Board meeting, a great many Taylor teachers signed a similar letter:
Board Members
School Board, Katy Independent School District
March 4, 1993
As teachers in the Katy Independent School District, we feel that it is our obligation to speak against requiring teachers to return tests to students. Although teachers work long hours preparing lessons, teaching and reteaching, writing, grading and recording tests, we are not opposed to returning tests because it is too much work to write new ones every year. the reasons we oppose sending tests home are much more compelling.
First, test validity and reliability are crucial measures of a good test. Validity, the measure of whether or not a test really measures what it is intended to measure, and reliability, the consistency of a test in measuring over multiple administrations, can only be achieved when tests are given a number of times. If tests must be rewritten every year because copies of the test are readily available to students, validity and reliability will suffer. Teachers who now conduct informal and formal item analyses of tests will no longer be able to do so. because the tests will be "new' every year, test items will be "raw" -- teachers will not have the opportunity to polish, refine, or rewrite test items to better evaluate learning.
A second concern is that using old tests to prepare for mid-term and final exams promotes rote memorization. As teachers, we have been trained to try to formulate test questions that require both factual knowledge and higher-level thinking skills. Re-studying test items reduces test preparation to memorization. We are trying to teach students to think, to be able to look at textbook information and notes and grasp how detailed information forms larger concepts (synthesis ) [for you Board members from Rio Linda] or conversely, to be able to comprehend how large concepts are composed of specific information (analysis and classfication [sic] [ditto the Rio Linda remark]. We feel that given the opportunity, students will tend to concentrate on memorizing old test items rather than truly learning the material. By teaching thinking and study skills, we are trying to prepare students for our tests and for tests in their futures: the SAT, ACT, and college tests.
An additional aspect of this problem is that of KISD's reputation.
Currently, Taylor High School students can take pride in having graduated from a school with a demanding, thorough curriculum. This reputation increases their chances for being accepted into quality colleges. If it became known that THS students have ready access to tests, their grades might be seen as "inflated," jeopardizing this reputation and weakening their chances of being accepted into the college of their choice. Even if this [reference?] did occur, a more serious side effect would be that THS/KISD students would simply not be as well prepared for college -- they will not know how to study for mid-terms or final exams unless old tests are made available to them. We feel it is far better for them to acquire these skills now.
It is most important to note that we fully understand and strongly support parents who feel that their children require their parents' assistance. As educators, we suggest that this help take several forms.
* encouraging students' responsibility in taking and studying notes daily
* encouraging students to listen carefully in class when teachers review tests
* showing students how to read over notes and recall what was stressed by the teacher in class, or, if recollection is not possible, making judgments about what is important, in the context of the material covered in the notes and in the text
* sharing study tips that parents found successful in high school and college
If necessary, we are available to go over tests with both student and parents at the parents' convenience.
If the Board of Education forms a study group on this question, we would like to recommend that this group include administrators, teachers, board members, parents of current students, parents of students who have graduated and attended college, and possibly even THS/KISD graduates who are now in college.
We sincerely appreciate your willingness to listen to our concerns as professional educators and hope that we can be of assistance in finding the solution that best helps our students now and in the future.
The letter was signed by:
Julie Coolidge
Margaret M. Broussard
Eileen M. Kress
Peggy Schneider
Connie Bailey
Lorraine Day
Becky Hall
Linda Atkinson
Gladys Tynes
Jennifer Gillespie
Craig Butternutt
Barbara Gilcrease
Cynthia Sante
Susan Shellum
Penny Allendorf
Virginia L. Fleming
Sandra Olson
All Voz
Betti George
Kimberly D. Peterson
Nancy Gonzalez
Rachel Hintz
Catherine Cameron
John Cameron
Suzanne Waldrep
Jim Mavity
Margie Patrick
Shane Herriz
Karen Gordon
Gail Hardy
Shirley Koss
Irene Remlinger
Donna Steffenauer
Rhonda Demel
Pat King
Cynthia A. Thornton
M. Eloise Reeves
Liz Abbot
Charles Findiesen
Pam Foster
Sheryl E. Durkee
Rpberta Rakestraw
Shelly Vannoy
Charles Patterson
Robert Swope
Barbara Brown
Anna Marie Cowser
Rachel Mattox
Susan Shank
Janet Koening
Bud Cunningham
Adena J. Sealock
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Obviously the Taylor English Department Chairman wrote this letter as well, and she found every teacher at Taylor High School who did not want to make up new tests every time one was administered. In my opinion, all the arguments are bogus, and the real reason for not returning tests is that, for whatever reason, teachers do not want to create new ones! They prefer to keep giving the same test year after year! Anyone who cannot see that such is true, probably didn't go to a very good high school!
They sure never had me for their English teacher!