There is a growing movement in Oklahoma to change how we
assess student achievement. For years,
many educators, including myself, have worked diligently to persuade our
Senators and Representatives to move to the ACT and ACT Aspire as a better
option over the current End of Instruction Exams and their 3-8 counterpart, the
OCCT. Yesterday, ROPE (Restore Oklahoma’s
Public Education) wrote a blog opposing this movement. I have a lot of respect for ROPE and the work
they do educating parents about Oklahoma’s education policies and their blog
does an excellent job of stating why they oppose the movement toward the ACT
suite of assessments. However, I felt
compelled to share with #oklaed why moving to the ACT is the very best option
for Oklahoma students if we are to maintain a high stakes testing culture in
Oklahoma.
In ROPE’s blog, they outlined 2 major reasons why Oklahoma
shouldn’t move to the ACT (Yes, Mr. Hime I know you are not supposed to write a
rebuttal blog, but I couldn’t help myself):
1) The ACT is aligned to Common Core and 2) Oklahoma needs to maintain its
sovereignty over test questions and state academic standards. Noble goals, but
both needs to be clarified. First, the
ACT test is standardized (meaning all students answers the same questions),
criterion referenced (meaning its questions measure student knowledge against a
specific learning target), and norm referenced (meaning it compares student
answers to students from around the nation). ROPE would have you believe the
ACT is aligned to Common Core. Actually,
the ACT is aligned to the College and Career Readiness standards. CCR standards are nationally recognized
academic learning targets American high school students should know if they are
to be successful post-secondary education.
This is the very same goal of Oklahoma’s public education system:
College and Career Readiness. Recently, the Oklahoma Regents of Higher
Education certified that PASS standards were aligned to College and Career
Readiness Standards. We should not claim
PASS, ACT, and Common Core are the same thing just because they are all aligned
to a minimum set of knowledge standards we want all high school students to
know when they graduate.
The idea that Oklahoma should maintain sovereignty over its
standards is right on the mark. Oklahoma
teachers should have autonomy over the learning activities in their
classrooms. Oklahoma teachers should
work together to develop rigorous standards for Oklahoma children. No one is denying the necessity for
sovereignty over standards. However,
there are only a few companies which are proficient in writing, developing, and
administering assessments to measure Oklahoma student achievement. ROPE mentioned the Iowa Test of Basic Skills
and the Stanford Achievement Tests as viable options. YES, they both are standardized, norm
referenced tests. YES, both are not
aligned to CCR or Common Core. And YES, neither
are developed by Oklahoma teachers nor controlled by Oklahoma standards. And YES, neither are used for college
admission. Isn’t the purpose of our testing
reform movement to find an assessment that has practical application to our
students? The ACT is the basic test used
for college entrance. Using the ITBS or
the Stanford 10 would be just like the EOI – providing us information about
student achievement (after the fact mind you) but not having any validity
toward post-secondary life.
The ACT and its ACT Aspire tests would provide Oklahoma
teachers a comprehensive assessment program to provide formative data from
grade 3 through graduation. The test
would satisfy college entrance requirements for those students who wish to seek
a college education. The work keys
aspect of the ACT suite of exams would provide our business and industry
organizations with vital information about a student’s ability to go to
work. Both of those are key components
to Gov. Fallin’s goals of increasing more college degrees and career tech
certifications. It only makes sense we
use a test aligned to Oklahoma’s College and Career Ready goals. It only makes sense we use a test which is
more cost effective (putting more educational dollars back into the
classroom). It only makes sense we
minimize the time needed for testing (thus maximizing instructional time). It only makes sense we use an assessment
which benefits our students in the pursuit of their post high school
goals. The ACT is the right assessment to
meet all these goals. Join the
movement. Make Oklahoma education better
for ALL our students.
