A number of years ago, one of my most respected principals made the following comment (paraphrased), “Why is it that when our results are good on a standardized test we applaud the work of our staff, but when our results are poor, we blame the exam?” This statement is becoming increasingly more important given the labour strife we are facing here in Canada. We like to use results when they suit our case, which means, ALL of us tend to speak out of both sides of our mouth!
For example the latest PISA results demonstrated the strength of the Canadian system, which by the way, educates 90% plus of students within public education. Here’s the issue linked to my former principal comments: On one hand, teacher organizations applauded the results, citing the strength of the local system while still expressing disdain for standardized tests for many appropriate reasons including the ranking of divisions, schools, students and ultimately teachers. Governments also highlighted the results to demonstrate their commitment to education and then always had a “but…” Most times the “but” is that outcomes haven’t improved compared to “all” of the money invested into the education system.
I’ll address the issue of standardized testing in a future blog but for right now, let me talk about outcome improvement. One of the biggest issues with outcomes is they tend to focus strictly on achievement and seldom take any local context into consideration. That local context or those data stories as I call them have a significant impact on “outcomes.” For example, if 22 out of 25 students are not at grade level going into a standardized test, it shouldn’t surprise even the most dense individual that most of the students are not going to meet the outcomes. But does that mean that learning didn’t take place and in all likelihood at a very high level? Absolutely not! That is one of the reasons why looking solely at achievement is not one of the best indicators of overall student success.
Outcomes are easily reached and improvements on standardized tests are easily accomplished albeit if scruples don’t count! In a previous life, I remember reviewing the results of a high performing school based on their tests results. During the data dive however, I found that all of their special education students (proper name back then), who were able and willing to write the test were being excused. The results looked great but morally, this was not acceptable! The reason for this less than inclusive approach to testing was simply “pressure” to perform so that the school ranking would remain high! Unfortunately that same pressure remains in many areas which doesn’t bode well for any system (national, provincial or local) that wants to become more not less inclusive.
I understand why governments and the general public wants to ensure that there is good bang for their buck when it comes to education funding. But if simple achievement or other narrow outcomes are our only goalposts, we will continue to have only a superficial understanding of learning and overall student success.
This is a complex issue and only when ALL involved speak and understand the same language will we be able to start to address it. Stay tuned…more to come!
