[net-gold] The Defiant Parents: Testing's Discontents Response to Hunt
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 04:36:53 -0500 (EST)
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Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 19:50:09 -0800
From: Richard Hake <rrhake@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: AERA-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Net-Gold] The Defiant Parents: Testing's Discontents – Response to
Hunt
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If you reply to this long (61 kB) post please don't hit the reply button,
bane of discussion lists, unless you prune the copy of this post that may
appear in your reply down to a few relevant lines, otherwise the entire
already archived post may be needlessly resent to subscribers. The
abstract reads:
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***************************************************
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ABSTRACT: In a post "Re: The Defiant Parents: Testing's Discontents" [Hake
(2014)] at <http://bit.ly/1mYwWoa>, I pointed to the "vigorous leadership,
voluminous messaging, and pro-public-/anti-private-education positions of
(a) Diane Ravitch and (b) "Fair Test" <http://www.fairtest.org/>. Then I
commented that neither appeared to be informed regarding the virtues of
rigorous measurement of students' higher-order learning by means of
zero-stakes *formative evaluation* "designed and used to improve an
intervention, especially when it is still being developed" [JCSEE, copied
onto p. 132 by Frechtling et al. (2010) at <http://bit.ly/1aYcgYn>.
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In response, Russ Hunt (2014) at <http://bit.ly/1hSsq6L> wrote: "The
virtues of rigorous testing aren't really the point: it's how the tests
are administered and what uses they're put to that Ravitch and "Fair Test"
(and I) are concerned with."
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However, it IS to the point for many of those who wish to improve
education, as I have emphasized in, e.g.:
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1. "The Physics Education Reform Effort: A Possible Model for Higher
Education" [Hake (2005)] at <http://bit.ly/9aicfh>;
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2. "Should We Measure Change? Yes!" [Hake (2007)] at
<http://bit.ly/d6WVKO> (2.5 MB);
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3. "Re: pre-to-post tests as measures of learning/teaching" [Hake (2008a)]
at <http://bit.ly/MmPxwp>;
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4. "Design-Based Research in Physics Education Research: A Review" [Hake
(2008b)] at <http://bit.ly/9kORMZ> (1.1 MB);
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5. "The Impact of Concept Inventories On Physics Education and Its
Relevance For Engineering Education" [Hake (2011)] at
<http://bit.ly/nmPY8F> (8.7 MB);
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6. "The NRC Finally Comes to Its Senses on Improving STEM Education" [Hake
(2013a)] at <http://bit.ly/154M5yf>; and
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7. "Can the Cognitive Impact of Calculus Courses be Enhanced?" Hake
(2013b)] at <http://bit.ly/1loHgC4> (2.7 MB).
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***************************************************
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In the abstract of my post "Re: The Defiant Parents: Testing's
Discontents" [Hake (2014)] I wrote:
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*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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Denker is either oblivious or dismissive of the vigorous leadership,
voluminous messaging, and pro-public-/anti-private-education positions of
(a) Diane Ravitch and (b) "Fair Test" <http://www.fairtest.org/> with its
discussion list ARN-L with OPEN! archives at <http://bit.ly/jeiTPm>.
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Unfortunately, both Ravitch and 'FairTest' appear to be uninformed
regarding the virtues of rigorous measurement of students' higher-order
learning by means of zero-stakes *FORMATIVE* (i.e., "designed and used to
improve an object, especially when it is still being developed") pre/post
testing utilizing Concept Inventories <http://bit.ly/dARkDY> which are
constructed by disciplinary experts through arduous qualitative and
quantitative research . . . . . ."
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*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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To which Russ Hunt (2014) responded:
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"The virtues of rigorous testing aren't really the point: it's how the
tests are administered and what uses they're put to that Ravitch and "Fair
Test" (and I) are concerned with. In higher education contexts we have
not (yet) had to be concerned with tests aimed at policing our teaching
and curricula and imposed on our students without our cooperation or
consent."
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I'm well aware that Ravitch and FairTest are concerned with how tests are
administered and the uses to which they're put. Their primary concern is
the *summative* high-stakes testing imposed by NCLB
<http://1.usa.gov/y5efZj > and "Race To the Top "
<http://1.usa.gov/i5KXLY>.
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That both are detrimental to K-12 education has been ably chronicled by
FairTest at <http://www.fairtest.org/> and by Diane Ravitch in her blog
<http://dianeravitch.net/> and books "The Death and Life of the Great
American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education"
[Ravitch (2010, 2011) and "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization
Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools" [Ravitch (2013)].
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Nevertheless, I still maintain that both Ravitch and 'FairTest' appear to
be uninformed regarding the virtues of rigorous measurement of students'
higher-order learning by means of zero-stakes *formative evaluation*
defined as:
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"Evaluation designed and used to improve an intervention, especially when
it is still being developed" – JCSEE (1994) as copied on p. 132 of
Frechtling et al. (2010) at <http://bit.ly/1aYcgYn>.
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The above IS to the point for many of those who wish to reform education,
as I have emphasized in, e.g.:
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1. "The Physics Education Reform Effort: A Possible Model for Higher
Education" [Hake (2005)].
.
2. "Should We Measure Change? Yes!" [Hake (2007)].
.
3. "Re: pre-to-post tests as measures of learning/teaching" [Hake
(2008a)].
.
4. "Design-Based Research in Physics Education Research: A Review" [Hake
(2008b)].
.
5. "The Impact of Concept Inventories On Physics Education and Its
Relevance For Engineering Education" [Hake (2011)].
.
6. "The NRC Finally Comes to Its Senses on Improving STEM Education" [Hake
(2013a)].
.
7. "Can the Cognitive Impact of Calculus Courses be Enhanced?" Hake
(2013b)].
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Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University; Honorary
Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands; President, PEdants
for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the Invention of the
Internet (PEDARRII); LINKS TO: Academia <http://bit.ly/a8ixxm>; Articles
<http://bit.ly/a6M5y0>; Blog <http://bit.ly/9yGsXh>; Facebook
<http://on.fb.me/XI7EKm>; GooglePlus <http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE>; Google
Scholar <http://bit.ly/Wz2FP3>; Linked In <http://linkd.in/14uycpW>;
Research Gate <http://bit.ly/1fJiSwB>; Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI)
Labs <http://bit.ly/9nGd3M>; Twitter <http://bit.ly/juvd52>.
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"Physics educators have led the way in developing and using objective
tests to compare student learning gains in different types of courses, and
chemists, biologists, and others are now developing similar instruments.
These tests provide convincing evidence that students assimilate new
knowledge more effectively in courses including active, inquiry-based, and
collaborative learning, assisted by information technology, than in
traditional courses." - Wood & Gentile (2003).
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REFERENCES [All URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 30 Jan
2014.]
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Frechtling J., M.M. Mark, D.J. Rog, V. Thomas, H. Frierson, S.Hood, & G.
Hughes. 2010. NSF Report, "The 2010 User-Friendly Handbook for Project
Evaluation," online as a 815 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/1aYcgYn>.
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Hake, R. R. 2005. "The Physics Education Reform Effort: A Possible Model
for Higher Education," online as a 100 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/9aicfh> .
This is a slightly edited version of an article that was (a) published in
the "National Teaching and Learning Forum" 15(1), December 2005, online to
subscribers at <http://bit.ly/1hGv92V> (if your institution doesn't
subscribe to NTLF, then it should), and (b) disseminated by the Tomorrow's
Professor list <http://bit.ly/d09Y8r> as Msg. 698 on 14 Feb 2006. Type
"698" into the slot at the top of the page.
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Hake, R.R. 2007. "Should We Measure Change? Yes!" online as a 2.5 MB pdf
at <http://bit.ly/d6WVKO>. A severely truncated version appears at Hake
(2006).
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Hake, R.R. 2008a. "Re: pre-to-post tests as measures of
learning/teaching," online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at
<http://bit.ly/MmPxwp>. Post of 28 Jan 2008 17:33:48-0800 to AERA-L and
Net-Gold.
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Hake, R.R. 2008b. "Design-Based Research in Physics Education Research: A
Review," in Kelly, Lesh, & Baek (2008)]. A pre-publication version of that
chapter is online as a 1.1 MB pdf at <http://bit.ly/9kORMZ>.
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Hake, R.R. 2011. "The Impact of Concept Inventories On Physics Education
and Its Relevance For Engineering Education," invited talk, 8 August,
second annual NSF-sponsored "National Meeting on STEM Concept
Inventories," Washington, D.C., online as a 8.7 MB pdf at
<http://bit.ly/nmPY8F>.
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Hake, R.R. 2013a. "The NRC Finally Comes to Its Senses on Improving STEM
Education," online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at
<http://bit.ly/154M5yf>. Post of 18 Sep 2013 20:19:57-0400 to AERA-L and
Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted
to various discussion lists and also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at
<http://bit.ly/19hfX6n> with a provision for comments.
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Hake, R.R. 2013b. "Can the Cognitive Impact of Calculus Courses be
Enhanced?" An update of 26 Dec 2013 of an invited talk of 24 April 2012,
Department of Mathematics, University of Southern California, online as a
2.7 MB pdf at <http://bit.ly/1loHgC4>.
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Hake, R.R. 2014. "Re: The Defiant Parents: Testing’s Discontents," online
on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/1mYwWoa>. Post of 25 Jan
2014 16:10:59-0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the
complete post were transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on
my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/1dEZzOD>.
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Hunt, R. 2014. "Re: The Defiant Parents: Testing’s Discontents," online on
the OPEN! STLHE-L archives at <http://bit.ly/1hSsq6L>. Post of 26 Jan 2014
19:18:42-0400 to STLHE-L and POD.
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JCSEE. 1994. Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation, The
Program Evaluation Standards: How to Assess Evaluations of Educational
Programs," 2nd ed., Sage. See the glossary of evaluation terms on pp.
203-210 of this publication, repeated on pp. 129-135 of Frechtling et al.
(2010). Amazon.com information at <http://amzn.to/L3MvvY>, note the
searchable "Look Inside" feature. An expurgated Google book preview is
online at <http://bit.ly/1mI2Sdl>. This 2nd edition has evidently now
been superseded by the 3rd edition [Yarbrough et al. (2011)].
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Ravitch, D. 2010, 2011. "The Death and Life of the Great American School
System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education." Basic Books,
publisher's information at <http://bit.ly/1dENs4c>. Amazon.com information
at <http://amzn.to/pAjeZU>, note the searchable "Look Inside" feature.
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Ravitch, D. 2013. "Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement
and the Danger to America's Public Schools," Knopf, publisher's
information at <http://bit.ly/1l8esCY>, Amazon.com information at
<http://amzn.to/1mTZzCN>, note the searchable "Look Inside" feature.
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Wood, W.B., & J.M. Gentile. 2003. "Teaching in a research context,"
Science 302: 1510; 28 November; online as a 213 kB pdf
<http://bit.ly/SyhOvL>, thanks to Ecoplexity <http://bit.ly/152aFQ9>.
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Yarbrough, D.B., L.M. Shula, R.K. Hopson, & F.A. Caruthers. 2011. "The
Program Evaluation Standards: A Guide for Evaluators and Evaluation
Users," 3rd ed. Sage, publisher's information at <http://bit.ly/1jQpuvl>.
Amazon.com information at <http://amzn.to/1mPovZg>, note the searchable
"Look Inside" inside feature. An expurgated Google book preview is online
at <http://bit.ly/1aDkYNK>.
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