• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Education / U-I reviews tests to see if there’s a better way

U-I reviews tests to see if there’s a better way

November 13, 2007 By admin

University of Iowa education researchers are studying state tests, like the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, to determine if there’s a better way to be gauging a student’s learning. Andrew Ho, a professor of education at the U-of-I, says under the current “No Child Left Behind” parameters, schools get credit for students who are above a certain passing score.

Ho says: “But there’s no attention paid currently to students who are achieving very low but make significant gains that may not pass that passing score. They can make incredible gains but not receive credit for it. Likewise, students who are achieving at a very high level may decline substantially over time but as long as they happen to be over that passing score, schools still receive credit for those students.”

Ho says so-called “growth models” are a way to get a better sense of how students are learning over time instead of looking at whether they’re just making a passing score. He says most tests are set up to tell you how a student is performing but there’s no sense of how that changes over time.

“You can be at the 50th percentile one year and at the 50th percentile the next year and have you changed? Have you learned anything? You’re the same with respect to other people but have you moved forward or have you stepped back? The tests that can actually talk about how students have changed are few and far between because it’s a hard thing to do,” he says.

So much importance is given to test scores, but Ho says it’ll surprise many people to hear that only a few tests actually track student learning. “It wouldn’t require a substantial change to some tests but it would require a substantial change in the current policy we have set up that are myopically focused on an idea of proficiency. We should instead be focused on how our proficiencies change over time,” Ho says. He says the U-of-I is studying a host of state tests and how they do — or don’t — measure student growth, with the ultimate goal of bringing wiser educational policies. Ho’s team is working under a two-year, $274,000 grant from the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education.

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: University of Iowa

Featured Stories

Marquette casino moving to land, leaving only 2 casino boats in Iowa

Reynolds signs her ‘school choice’ bill into law

Governor Reynolds touts 2024 Iowa Caucuses in Inaugural Address

University of Iowa grad presiding over U.S. House Speaker vote

Iowan who was oldest person in the U.S. dies

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Iowa State names new receivers coach

No. 2 Iowa visits No. 1 Penn State in wrestling dual Friday night

Iowa’s Clark brings increased exposure to women’s basketball

No. 18 Iowa State women visit TCU

Northern Iowa men host Valparaiso

More Sports

Archives

Copyright © 2023 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC