[KACT] Re: science assessment test bank
- From: "Kelly Deters" <kellymdeters@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: kact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 07:55:34 -0600
Thank you for your comments, Janice. Yes, I understand the "setting the bar
low" the first year. However, our school and many others, are also giving
the exam "for real" to all our biology students and possibly our sophomores
that are in chemistry this year rather than making them wait a year and
forget material. And those scores will be used to measure improvement.
Those are the students that we're really targeting with review this year.
Also, even though we understand the improvement game with assessments,
parents and community members that read the newspaper don't and we have to
be careful to still do well-enough not to raise concern within the community
even our first year.
Kelly
On Dec 29, 2007 10:04 AM, Janice Crowley <jpcrowley@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thank you Kelly for getting this test bank going for teachers. I think
> this is a very proactive positive help to everyone. I did have a department
> chair from another school caution me about not raising the bar too high for
> the first test the students take since everything will be compared from that
> point. The analysis of the schools is how they keep improving. So the
> first test the students take will be that school's benchmark of comparison.
> Something to think about. So I suggest that you keep the test bank going
> and then on round two of your students taking the science assessments make
> sure your students have been exposed to as many questions from the test bank
> as possible.
> I was on the Kansas State Science Assessments Committee and most of our
> committee recommending students taking the ACT as their science assessment.
> This really made sense since the ACT Science is not designed for students to
> regurgitate facts, but for them to be able to interpret experimental designs
> and extrapolate information from graphs and critically think through two
> opposing scientific points of view and be able to answer comprehension
> questions. This type of assessment matches what NSF says about our students
> needing to be critical thinkers and understand the process of science by
> doing. It does not mean to ignore teaching of science facts in class, but
> given the volume of scientific facts a child can learn in high school -
> expecting them to vomit back information is really a fairly low level
> expectation. At the time the committee worked on these standards there was
> much turmoil on the Kansas State School Board at the time which meant they
> were trying to serve a separate agenda and not help us to work through what
> would be best for the students in the state of Kansas. So until that
> changes, the teachers on the committee tried to stick with the National
> Science Standards and figure ways to make the questions higher level
> thinking. This test bank will help with the current science assessments.
>
> Happy Holidays,
>
> Janice Crowley
> jpcrowley@xxxxxxx
>
> Happy Holidays.
>
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