Getting Rid of Exams and Tests in Schools

[socialist]

I strongly support the removal of tests and exams in schools. and I am pleased that this may soon be a reality. Leading educators know that tests and exams do nothing but cause anxiety and stress. This is education for the 21st century.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-death-of-the-exam-canada-is-at-the-leading-edge-of-killing-the-final-for-good

[Ash74]

Did you read the first paragraph?

What about the stress caused by the strike?

What purpose does that serve for the learners?

[Guest]

The problem with exams is, if someone fails, they fail. If you just assess daily work, everone can pass.

[Big Guy]

In most jurisdictions, a successful credit is defined as "the successful completion of .... hrs of study". Provinces and schools have chosen to use the most objective and efficient method of evaluating that the student is "successful" in that he/she has learned the material expected during that time period. That is what exams and tests are supposed to do. This method allows a consistency of programme throughout the province and also verifies that the teacher has taught the appropriate materials.

In any jurisdiction of which I am familiar, any student that has a proven unnatural difficulty with the test and exam process is given the opportunity for different methods of evaluation - from a special assignment to oral examinations.

BTW - Most children "fail" because of the number of classes and tests that they are absent for.

Many people also feel that the school system is supposed to prepare the student for the outside world. Tests and evaluations are used for anything from getting a drivers license to getting a promotion. The school would be the place to prepare young people for test taking.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Big Guy

[Signals.Cpl]

If you apply for a job, you may have to do an exam depending on the company. Does it cause anxiety? If you are not ready yes it does... if you are not ready and the best way to make sure none of our students are ready is to remove tests and exams in schools. What we would get is individuals who are full of confidence but without the knowledge or capabilities to back it up and who will fail the first time they face a test or obstacle. I would never send my kids to a school that passes them to spare their feelings and this is basically all that would be accomplished, more home schooling and private schools with a result of public schools getting their funding cut.

[overthere]

I strongly support the removal of tests and exams in schools. and I am pleased that this may soon be a reality. Leading educators know that tests and exams do nothing but cause anxiety and stress. This is education for the 21st century.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-death-of-the-exam-canada-is-at-the-leading-edge-of-killing-the-final-for-good

I agree. We should just give every kid a PhD at birth, and a smartphone at age two with a lifetime plan paid for by the state. There is no need for schools at all if children have smartphones, and they will have wonderful, meaningful lives ahead of all of them with a prestigious degree in hand.

It would save us hundreds of billions of dollars and our children would flourish.

[Ash74]

We can just import the people that are actually skilled. Doctors,engineers, architects,etc,etc.

Of course Canada will still have doctors that can estimate where the lump is...

[Moonlight Graham]

The problem with exams is, if someone fails, they fail. If you just assess daily work, everone can pass.

Tests are good. How do you test knowledge without tests? But exams that heap massive portions of a student's final grade into one do-or-die test I don't think are ideal because anyone can have a bad day, and it puts a lot of stress on people which can alter the results of what is normally a knowledgeable and hard-working student.

Maybe most importantly, exams promote cramming, which is short-term memory of knowledge that is often not retained in the long-term, making the course much less useful to the student & society overall. Spitting up grade assessment into smaller, more frequent testing will mean more accurate assessment, less stress, and forcing the student to repeatably study & memorize concepts, which everyone knows leads to better long-term retention of knowledge.

There's nothing wrong with a final exam that tests a student on all material in a course, but just don't make it worth 40-50%+ of the final grade. 20% seems about max for me.

[Ash74]

Tests are good. How do you test knowledge without tests? But exams that heap massive portions of a student's final grade into one do-or-die test I don't think are ideal because anyone can have a bad day, and it puts a lot of stress on people which can alter the results of what is normally a knowledgeable and hard-working student.

Maybe most importantly, exams promote cramming, which is short-term memory of knowledge that is often not retained in the long-term, making the course much less useful to the student & society overall. Spitting up grade assessment into smaller, more frequent testing will mean more accurate assessment, less stress, and forcing the student to repeatably study & memorize concepts, which everyone knows leads to better long-term retention of knowledge.

There's nothing wrong with a final exam that tests a student on all material in a course, but just don't make it worth 40-50%+ of the final grade. 20% seems about max for me.

Yup...... Some people do not test well. I am the opposite. I thrive on cramming and tests. Cannot sit still for ten minutes in a classroom. I learn better on my own and always have.

Different strokes for different folks

[Boges]

Life causes stress and anxiety.

[overthere]

Life causes stress and anxiety.

Teachers caused me stress and anxiety in school, particualrly later when what my personal development demanded was non stop partying and chasing girls.

The obvious solution is to keep the schools, but get rid of the tests and the teachers.

[socialist]

Teachers caused me stress and anxiety in school, particualrly later when what my personal development demanded was non stop partying and chasing girls.

The obvious solution is to keep the schools, but get rid of the tests and the teachers.

How can you get rid of teachers. You can't educate without human interaction.

[Hydraboss]

I thought all "learners" needed was a smartphone?? You can buy an awful lot of top end phones for the price of one bloated teacher's salary.

And of course a lot of teachers would love to get rid of tests - it's about the only way left to measure teaching performance (and we sure as hell don't want a teacher being measured). Same reason they want to get rid of PATs in Alberta - it was too easy to compare jurisdictions when they all used the same test.

[Bryan]

If you can't pass the test, all of the time you put in was wasted. Giving people credit for just showing up tells you nothing about how well they know the material, how well they can express the concepts, how well they can solve the problems.

If you want to raise a generation of losers who cannot cope with the real world, taking away tests would be the best way to accomplish that.

[Bryan]

Yup...... Some people do not test well. I am the opposite. I thrive on cramming and tests. Cannot sit still for ten minutes in a classroom. I learn better on my own and always have.

Different strokes for different folks

Yep. The best teachers I ever had were ones who gave me the actual course outline right from the beginning, told me what material to read, then essentially went away until test time. Those are the courses I did the best in, and the ones where I still know the material today. My best marks by far in university were in the courses that I almost never went to class.

[guyser]

I thought all "learners" needed was a smartphone?? You can buy an awful lot of top end phones for the price of one bloated teacher's salary.

Hey, perfect.

[jacee]

I thought all "learners" needed was a smartphone?? You can buy an awful lot of top end phones for the price of one bloated teacher's salary.

And of course a lot of teachers would love to get rid of tests - it's about the only way left to measure teaching performance (and we sure as hell don't want a teacher being measured).

You can't measure teacher performance via student achievement unless you randomly assign students to classes (not going to happen) and measure growth over time.

Teacher performance appraisal is a separate issue and process.

Same reason they want to get rid of PATs in Alberta - it was too easy to compare jurisdictions when they all used the same test.

Ya ... good indicator of differences in wealth in different communities. That's about all ... and we have stats can for that.

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Edited April 7, 2015 by jacee

[carepov]

If you can't pass the test, all of the time you put in was wasted. Giving people credit for just showing up tells you nothing about how well they know the material, how well they can express the concepts, how well they can solve the problems.

If you want to raise a generation of losers who cannot cope with the real world, taking away tests would be the best way to accomplish that.

I beg to difer, as do the world leaders in public education:

"The focus in education is on learning rather than testing. There are no national tests for pupils in basic education in Finland. Instead, teachers are responsible for assessment in their respective subjects on the basis of the objectives included in the curriculum"

http://www.oph.fi/english/education_system

[jacee]

If you can't pass the test, all of the time you put in was wasted. Giving people credit for just showing up tells you nothing about how well they know the material, how well they can express the concepts, how well they can solve the problems.

If you want to raise a generation of losers who cannot cope with the real world, taking away tests would be the best way to accomplish that.

You speak as if there are no other ways to assess students' grasp of concepts and ability to apply them except via one time tests.

That suggests you have a very limited understanding of learning and assessment.

(See? I can assess you via your performance!)

If you want to know if someone can research organize and present a topic ... do you give them a written test about it? Of course not.

If you want to know whether a student can plan, organize materials, measure and build a table, do you give them a written test? Of course not.

There are many better ways to assess students' learning than via written time-limited 'snapshots' of performance under pressure in artificial circumstances ... like actually observing and evaluating their performance on real-world tasks.

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Edited April 7, 2015 by jacee

[Bryan]

You speak as if there are no other ways to assess students' grasp of concepts and ability to apply them except via one time tests.

That suggests you have a very limited understanding of learning and assessment.

(See? I can assess you via your performance!)

If you want to know if someone can research organize and present a topic ... do you give them a written test about it? Of course not.

If you want to know whether a student can plan, organize materials, measure and build a table, do you give them a written test? Of course not.

There are many better ways to assess students' learning than via written time-limited 'snapshots' of performance under pressure in artificial circumstances ... like actually observing and evaluating their performance on real-world tasks.

.

I never said all tests have to be written. Your ability to assess anything is lacking. Driving tests have both a written and a practical component. BOTH are necessary to prove you actually CAN drive, rather than that you just read about it.

[Big Guy]

There are many different kinds of tests. For example - creating a valid 50 question multiple choice test. The first few times what you are testing is the test.

After the first application, you look at the results. You will probably find a few questions which almost everybody got correct and a few where almost nobody got correct. You throw those questions out and replace them but maintaining the same coverage of curriculum materials. You continue the process until there is some consistency for all questions. Now this test might be used to evaluate the students - IF;

The students all read and understand English at the same level, all the students have been taught the same materials, all the students are from the same culture etc.

I remember years ago attending a symposium with a professor lecturing on "weighted response testing". This test is created as a multiple choice test BUT the evaluation is different;

For each question you are asked for the right answer (of the multiples provided) and your degree of certainty. You would give your choice and indicate if it was a guess, you are pretty sure or you are very sure. When evaluating your answer, if you get the right answer then you are credited with 1/2 mark for a "guess", 1 full mark for "pretty sure" and 1.5 mark for "very sure". Conversely, if you got the wrong answer you got a -1/2 for a "guess", -1 for pretty sure and -1.5 for a very sure. A blank got you a 0.

So the consequent range for the results of a 50 question multiple choice test would be between -75 and 75.

I have only seen this kind of test applied once.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Big Guy

[Mighty AC]

Should it be the goal of the education system to churn out a grade? I don't think so. I would rather each course contain a series of required and additional concepts/units/modules/skills. All of the required concepts must be mastered in order to proceed on to the next and ultimately gain the credit. Ultimately the idea of credits and subjects could also be erased over time as well.

Since each required concept must be mastered, a grade becomes meaningless. Each student should be allowed to proceed at their own pace, spending more time on areas they struggle with and less on those they understand easily. Students would have to master concept A before proceeding to B, which requires knowledge of A. Currently, students may receive a 60% on unit one, and then are forced to learn concepts which build on that unit. Their incomplete understanding will certainly hamper their learning of the next concept. Some students may only complete the required content while more advanced students would complete additional content allowing them to explore subjects in greater detail.

Testing would still have a place, being used by teachers and students to diagnose strengths and weaknesses within the material but not to assign a grade. A report showing the concepts students have mastered is a much better indicator of individual abilities than a mark stating 76% in biology.

[jacee]

I never said all tests have to be written. Driving tests have both a written and a practical component. BOTH are necessary to prove you actually CAN drive, rather than that you just read about it.

(Personal attack deleted)

There is evidence, however, the slow death of exams is not simply a sympathetic response to quivering students, but to new science around cognition, which suggests the traditional high-stress, all-or-nothing final exam under gymnasium floodlights may not be an accurate measure of learning.

The thread topic is getting rid of traditional written final exams, which you initially opposed, but I see you are moderating your stance.

Edited April 7, 2015 by jacee

[Bryan]

(Personal attack deleted)

There is evidence, however, the slow death of exams is not simply a sympathetic response to quivering students, but to new science around cognition, which suggests the traditional high-stress, all-or-nothing final exam under gymnasium floodlights may not be an accurate measure of learning.

The thread topic is getting rid of traditional written final exams, which you initially opposed, but I see you are moderating your stance.

I haven't changed my stance at all. You simply lack reading comprehension, and have a propensity for creating straw men.

[jacee]

I haven't changed my stance at all. You simply lack reading comprehension, and have a propensity for creating straw men.

That's just another personal attack, so clearly you have nothing of value to add.

.