![[Illustration from 'Mathematical World' by Richard Phillips]](pics/pic7.jpg)
State/district tests are too narrow
Summary
Your improvement program covers the full range of standards-based mathematical performance including, for example, non-routine problems and practical uses of mathematics as well as concepts and skills. Your state (or district) tests are much narrower, focused on short items tied to only some standards. But students, teachers and schools are judged on these tests, which have serious consequences for them. How can teachers be helped to tackle the broader program of mathematics described in state standards � the mathematics that students really need to be prepared for future mathematics courses and college?
Strategies
Work at policy level to broaden assessment
High-stakes assessment that matches your goals will help all aspects of your program move forward. The assessment tasks will help teachers by showing clear targets they understand, act as a motivating focus for professional development, and in time justify the adoption of better-aligned curricula.
Turn test prep into learning
This strategy provides teachers with instructinal materials and guides for using them to enhance students' learning, while preparing them for high-stakes assessment.
Develop classroom 'assessment for learning'
Feedback is important in guiding any system; in education it is often weak. Classroom assessment can make students' learning quicker and more robust.Diagnosis
Alignment protocols
provide a practical way to check the alignment of tests with standards � for example, your state tests with your state standards, as required by the "No Child Left Behind" Act. Tests are often much narrower than the standards or other assessment objectives they purport to cover.