Middle School Assessment and the Role of Teaching
by “A major goal of middle-school education is to make students responsible for their own learning. Adolescents must be active participants in setting academic goals for themselves, deciding how to accomplish these goals, and assessing their achievements” (SmallPlanet, 2000). Any educator specializing in the middle schools or administrator having to govern over middle schools must absolutely understand the psyche of the age group and understand the level of development.
If they understand the needs of the middle school student, then how can they not be considered in the forms of assessment? Even the ASK and GEPA are tailored to the format of the high school SAT’s, with no difference in the makeup of the exam, only the content.
There is much discussion about a need for educational reform especially in the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act. The one aspect that has significantly contributed to education thus far is the need for a teacher to become Highly Qualified according to the NCLB model. This prevents unqualified people from teaching and instills a higher level of recruitment making the professions considerably more professional than it has seemed in the public eye since its inception. However, the NCLB Act does leave a sour taste in many people’s mouths when it comes to funding formulas and how it takes the most gifted students and puts them on the same level as the most challenged students. Rather than embracing our talented youth as done in the European model, the United States is accepting mediocrity.
If assessment throughout the school year commits to a certain level of assessment, then educators will not have to suffer through radical educational reform, rather they will be a part of a gradual change intended to better society from generation to generation. Something as simple as creating a format that connects to each grade level may be the key that removes the fear of testing from students and creates accurate views of student progression and achievement. Case studies will need to be created and a Research Plan of a large scale will need to be funded, but the data has the potential to show how minor changes in middle school assessment can better prepare these students, not only for high school, but for life.
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Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr
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