Sunday, March 04, 2007
California STAR Writing test
One of my sons is in fourth grade and will be taking the STAR Writing test this week. They get a few hours to read and respond to a story in a chosen format -- summary, friendly letter, etc. I think the test is more important for the school than for an individual child, although there is certainly some importance for both. What surprises me is how much my son knows about constructing an essay and responding to literature. He knows things that I didn't learn until my last year of high school. Whether or not these things have been taught because of the test or not, I think it's good to have that internal structure of an essay or letter and to develop as a writer over time. He seems to be off to a good start.
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My son is also a 4th grader. We homeschool three days a week and attend class two days, and he is the second of my children I have had to prepare for California's writing test. They don't get "a few hours" to do it; it's more like between one and two, depending on the task they have to do. They could be asked to do one of three things: a summary of a short reading selection, a narrative (short story) based on a given prompt, or a response to a short literature selection. (They are tested again in 7th grade, where they may also be told to write a persuasive essay on a given topic.) While I believe that all of these tasks are important and ought to be taught for their intrinsic value, I strongly object to the kids being tested on "response to literature" skills at this age. For some children, particularly boys, it is developmentally inappropriate to expect the verbally abstract thought required, and no amount of high-quality teaching will advance the student's abilities. My own kids are a great example: my first son reached the developmental level well in advance of the writing test, and a few weeks of test-specific training were all that were required for him to do well. My second child, although he is at least a year ahead in math, cannot yet reliably figure out "the author's message" in a short story despite months of patient instruction, much less support his conclusion with evidence from the text. I don't regret the time spent, because it will all sink in eventually, but I know what will happen this week at the test sites: some fortunate children will scribble comfortably away, crafting solid essays on the topic of the year, while others from their same class stare miserably at their papers, trying to compose something relevant.
I think there's too much emphasis on standardized testing in general. Weeks are devoted to it and it really puts the emphasis in the wrong place. As you say, some kids are better suited for some of this than others.
As for the time, my son said they get the whole morning and then additional time if needed, but maybe he was wrong. It does seem to be a long time. I know that last year my other son didn't finish in time and was given more time to complete the writing in the afternoon. The irony is that he's a good writer and enjoys it but doesn't do as well on some of these types of exams. I don't recall if he had trouble figuring out what the story meant, as you mentioned. I'll ask him about that.
I don't know if you want to say, but I'm interested in the 3 days at home and 2 days at school arrangement. How do you like that? There is a charter school here in Temecula that uses a system like that. I considered it but decided to stick with the local school.
We love it, but it really only works because I am a stay-at-home mom with a very flexible schedule. Our program is a charter also; this is my tenth year homeschooling (!) We do the "academics" at home, with a custom program I develop for each kid each year with the help of the credentialled teacher. Then, at school, the kids get to experience things best done in groups: art projects, putting on an annual musical, field trips, sharing time, and so forth. It's the best of all worlds -- individualized instruction for the core subjects but lots of socialization time too.
I was just looking at the California Department of Education website (www.cde.ca.gov). If you go to the testing and accountability pages and poke around, you can find a lot of interesting stuff. Anyhow, it says that the kids get 75 minutes for the writing test, except that if anyone is still "actively working" when the time is called they must be allowed to finish. It also seems to say that they have to finish each task in one sitting. That would seem to suggest that starting an essay in the morning and polishing it up in the afternoon is not allowed. This is interesting to me as a teacher; I was not aware that the time allowed was flexible.
That's interesting about the time allowed. I checked with my son and he said it was from 9 to 11 this morning but more time if you aren't finished. They sent home a note about getting to school on time for the writing test but they don't provide any other information.
How much time do you devote each day to the academics? Was there any philsophical reason behind your choice of the homeschooling/charter approach? Did you consider any of the setups like the Connections Academy where it's primarily homeschooling with some support provided online?
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