Yesterday, I was student observing and was talking to some teachers about the pre assessment test student's took. When I asked how the students performed on the assessment, the teacher smiled and said they did terrible which is exactly what we wanted. It's funny to me for teachers to express that they want their students to perform negatively on assessment. I understand the reason and logic behind wanting their students to perform poorly, but how does that affect the students self-esteem. I think administering old regents tests as pre assessment tests means nothing because both the student and the teacher realize that they're going to do bad on it due to the fact they have never taken the subject before. Using NWEA tests as a means of pre assessment is a better alternative to using old Regents. However, I also understand that not district and its staff understand the benefits of this and data a produces. I'm really not sure how to solve the problem but it was just a thought.
...hopefully this time it will post. As ai said yesterday, glad to see you are student teaching, although it is hard to have access to rich and timely data during that experience. I agree with much of what you said, but the real question will not be about how it effects their self esteem because you can comfort them with the knowledge how it will be used by the teacher for the teacher, BUT how will you use the learned information. Will you regroup, differentiate, evaluate your scope and sequence? Differentiation is the most difficult task a teacher can do effectively.
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