Part 3

The innovation of the World Wide Web, the lifestyle of communication altered by email, it's no secret that times are changing. We are quickly changing out of the slow moving Industrial Revolution into a fast pace Information Age. This constantly growing and amazing modernization has opened up many new career opportunities, as well as a change in skills and knowledge needed for success. Correspondingly, a change in the way our schools are run locally, as well as nationally, need to be altered in order to accommodate these new developments. . If we expect the children of the future to prosper and lead successful fulfilling lives, we must first make it change where it all begins, education. School assessment has been the centerpiece of the educational strategy for decades, just as the industrial age dominated our previous way of life. By moving forward into a new age that includes new intelligence that is needed to succeed in the world today, we must move our educational methods in a new direction. Before we can consider which direction our educational reform should go, we must first look at how school assessment is used today. By identifying the negative and positive affects we can see what works and avoid past mistakes.

In Memphis Tennessee, it's no secret that students in the city's school system are struggling. Just be looking at the State of Tennessee Memphis Report Card for 2006 you can clearly see that system is a complete disaster. The student academic achievement shows subjects
such as math, reading/languages, and social in grades K-8 were given terrible scores between 42 and 45, which amounts to a D. Even more distressing was the score of 41, otherwise an F, for the subject of science. If you compare these results with the records from the previous year, you'll find that Memphis City Schools are just barely improving. Clearly, the city's technique must be improved and in order to do that we must locate the underlining problem.

A major problem with the method of school assessment is the way in which teachers choose to use the system. It is often said, “What you test is what you get.” In other words, what the assessment tests focuses on determines then content of education and the methods in which educators teach. Lorrie Shepard from the University of Colorado has done extensive research on this issue and has found that "teachers taught the precise content of the tests rather than underlying concepts; and skills were taught in the same format as the test rather than as they would be used in the real world. For example, teachers reported giving up essay tests because they are inefficient in preparing students for multiple-choice tests." (3) Teaching students in this manner focuses on drill and practice on only basic skills and knowledge that is tested. "A study of eighth grade teachers from every state revealed that the majority of teachers make instructional changes as a result of mandated tests, and the nature of those changes is at odds with the recommendations of the curriculum and evaluation standards. For example, in response to the use of such tests teachers increase their emphasis on basic skills and pencil-and-paper computation and decrease their emphasis on project work, the use of technology, and cooperative effort.(4)” This type of education denies students of skills such as critical thinking, reasoning, and communicating are not only crucial to the learning process, but also living in the real world. It has been proven that perpetual drill does not increase tests scores, but has the
opposite affect. In fact, students who have been taught based on the method of understanding and critical thinking do better on tests compared to those who are taught through endless drill and practice (3). "Of course, students, particularly new learners, need some direct practice in skills, but low-achieving students suffer the most from this approach, because if their initial test scores are low, they often are given dull and repetitive skills instruction that does not enable them to grasp underlying concepts (1)."

I think it's very important to look at the teacher's choice of educational methods. Are they choosing to focus on basic skills because they're pressured by the city, or are they even qualified for the job? With scores as low and gruesome as Memphis City Schools I can easily see the stress and strain educators are under to make an improvement. But if studies have shown that their method of teaching is inadequate to increasing test scores, why are they not rethinking their education plans? One answer could be a lack of motivation. Public school teachers in Memphis only make about $38,693 a year. The is far from a justified salary for the people responsible for the education of our future leaders. Surely every teacher in Memphis is qualified for the job and deserves more recognition for their contribution, right? Surprisingly, if we look at the State of Tennessee Memphis Report Card you will find that over 1,721 core course are not taught by qualified teachers. However, the No Child Left Behind program require these courses to be taught by qualified educators, yet the school systems are reporting that there are almost 2000 courses taught by incompetent teachers. This could very well be contributing to the failing school system. If we want to expect the students of Memphis is improve in their learning, it is more than clear that a big change must be made.