News Naplan Testing In Australia - What Are You Experiences?

[ms spock]

Hello I am enjoying writing an article about neo-liberalist discourses within our educational system and looking at the emergence of the Dividuated Teacher who manipulates the data in to achieve better results. Given that in the 1880s we had standardised testing that resulted in teachers getting really good at teaching students to cheat. Given that the international research that was available when NAPLAN was implemented clearly shows that standardised testing dumbs down and narrows the curriculum, and is unfair and increases the equity gap I am dismayed at the installation of standardised testing, which has no value other than to really reassure that some part of our society is under control. It is good for political discourse but not so good for students and teachers and society in general in the long run. I have been reading different assessments of the stress and teaching to the test that is occurring. I was wondering if anyone wanted to share their experiences with NAPLAN and the MySchool website.

No one might be interested but hopefully someone is.

Cheers,
ms spock

 

[Queen Boudica]

A whole load of time is wasted teaching kids to pass the tests instead of teaching them proper basic fundamentals like phonics, and grammar. It is a façade. In my primary school they spend the whole term drilling kids and practising tests. And then there are those ridiculous parents who actually get tutors for it. It is meaningless testing.

 

[ms spock]

As the data gets back to the teachers 5 months later I think that it is nothing but a neo liberalist public relations exercise. It is making a lot of people a lot of money catering to the anxious parent dollar, that is for sure.

 

[Friday]

If you haven't read anything by John Taylor Gatto... You might find these interesting. Stateside, of course, so there are some differences.

http://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html
http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm

 

[ms spock]

Thanks @FridayJones