Tuesday, October 25, 2016

To PreTest or Not to PreTest

Over the past 15 years my opinion of the PreTest/PostTest has changed, particularly since the implementation of the SLO requirements we as PA Educators must fulfill. I used to think that a PreTest was a great way of measuring a starting point for a class ... assessing current knowledge and understanding before we get started for the course. This way I knew if there was anything that I could skip. I no longer believe this to be the case.

Why, you ask? Thank you for asking. There are a few reasons. First is the stress it puts on students who are already tested to the point of ridiculousness. I once heard George Bush justifying the NCLB testing by saying that if we are teaching the material, we should not be afraid of testing. But it's not about the teachers. School has never been about the teachers. It is supposed to be about what is best for the students. The simple fact is that testing causes stress for students. Testing after a lesson makes sense because will measure of what students learned. For most subjects testing before teaching the material is using valuable class time ineffectively.

In evaluating PreTest results, I have found that student knowledge of the material I teach varies widely. I teach courses that are not leveled meaning that I have every kind of student, from a non-verbal autistic student with a second-grade reading level to an Honors student who is taking college classes in the same class. Some of my courses include students from 9th grade through 12th grade, ranging in age from 13 to 20 years. As a result, my PreTest scores are not often helpful in modifying the curriculum.

Another reason I doubt the benefit of the PreTest/PostTest is the general attitude of students who take it. If you use Multiple Choice, True False, Matching, etc., many students do not even read the questions. They click through as quickly as they can to get it over with. I have actually had students score higher on the PreTest than the PostTest because they put no effort into either. Of course, some students approach these assignments with a much better attitude, but you still have to consider if this is the best use of your classroom time.

The primary reason I dislike the PreTest/PostTest is the stress it puts on students. Let me get back to PreTest/PostTest and the Pennsylvania SLO requirement. The SLO, or Student Learning Objective is a "Pennsylvania's new Educator Effectiveness System" (see more at PDE  or PSEA). As a classroom teacher, I am required to come up with an objective I want to measure. I design the assessment, I PreTest and measure the results. I then teach the material and give the assessment again (PostTest). I analyze the results. If student scores increase from PreTest to PostTest according to the measures I specified I expected when I wrote the SLO, it looks good. If student scores do not go up as much as I said they should, it does not look good.

Okay, in simple English now. I want students to do really bad on the PreTest so it looks like I taught them well. If their scores do not increase dramatically from PreTest to PostTest, I am not a good teacher. This affects my yearly evaluation. If the scores go up a lot from PreTest to PostTest, I look great. I hope you are keeping in mind while you read this that I wrote the SLO, I designed the assessments, I administered the assessments, and I analyzed the results. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

My solution ... when I introduce a lesson I lead whole class discussion about the material and simply ask students what they already know. This can be accomplished in a traditional sense where we all just talk to each other, or using an online forum or chat sessions. If you have students who do not feel comfortable speaking aloud in the classroom, the online approach may be the best choice. Either way, must simpler, a lot less work for me, and no stress! Furthermore, if provides an opportunity for the teacher to tie new material in with something students are already familiar with. That, my friend, is good pedagogy.

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