WL I've seen this approach fail too often.  The result is often "teaching
 WL to the test."  Back in the 70's it was common for NY high school
 WL graduates to be able to solve standard "work problems" (Ron digs a
 WL ditch in 6 days, William digs a ditch in 12 days...) by a tableau
 WL method of setting up "boxes" in a memorized arrangement and then
 WL filling the boxes by memorized rules.  But was also common that they
 WL didn't know why it worked, and they couldn't handle twists of the
 WL same problem (Ron in 6, Together 4, How long for William alone?).
 WL
 WL My first job was revising a test for measuring how well telephone
 WL managers were managing the service in older style telephone systems.
 WL You could get pockets of poor service (frequent slow dial tone) if you
 WL weren't careful about where you connected new phone service.  If you di
 WL the job properly, the test did a good job of measuring how well you
 WL did the job.  But people had discovered that you could give a small
 WL group of customers really bad service - must worse than anyone would
 WL get if you did the job properly but poorly - and everyone else would
 WL have really good service and the test would come out good because only
 WL a few people had sub-standard service.  This behavior was similar
 WL to "teaching to the test;" it was behavior modified in unproductive
 WL ways to maximize test scores.
 WL
 WL So I worry that an exit test focuses the attention on testing
 WL instead of education, with unintended deleterious side effects.
 
It seems only lazy or unethical folk would "teach
to the test."  If they are prone to that attitude
just imagine how they might teach without any testing.
 
Can we afford not to test.
 
Best,  wes
 
 
 
 
 
 WL
 WL ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
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 * MegaMail 2.10 #0:NRA Life Member.....Moose Pass, Alaska
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