TOK class 1/31
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We talked about assessing the jobs that schools were doing. In particular,
we talked about the plan that has been adopted in Florida, which includes
an increased importance of standardized tests, such as the FCAT. First we
discussed whether or not the current set up tells us anything about the
state of a school. Due to the fact that a test like the FCAT was never
made with any regard to honors/IB students, most students felt that the
test reveals absolutely nothing about the quality of education at a 
particular school, nor the quality of the students at that school.
Although the test does not pinpoint WHY students at a school know or 
do not know certain skills, it DOES reveal what percentage of students
at a school perform certain basic skills related to math, reading, and
writing to a proficient level, according to the state criteria. Of course,
many brought up the point that schools teach for the test & when that occurs,
students may not be learning concepts, but instead may be memorizing "tricks"
to outwit the test. In teaching for such a test, teachers lose time teaching
other skills that may be more important to learning. A question that came up
was the following: "Is it possible that the quality of teaching improves
when the state dictates what teachers are supposed to teach?" If the teachers
really know what they are doing and have a good feel for their students,
most students felt that state guidelines hampered teachers. However, maybe
it's possible that not all teachers know exactly what they are doing and
that their students could benefit from the state dictating what gets taught
in their class. This portion of the discussion spurred a debate about the
difference the quality of a teacher makes in a child's learning. In 
particular, "How much difference does a great teacher make compared to an
average teacher?"

Once we discussed some more issues surrounding the school assessment topic,
the class split into groups to attack the two following questions:

1) If our current plan is not adequete in assessing schools, what type of
   plan would work? What are the difficulties in implementing such a plan?

2) Once we have a fairly accurate assessment system, how do we go about
   "fixing" the schools identified as having problems? Once again, what
   are some of the difficulties involved in the implementation of this plan?