Testing! Testing!: What Every Parent Should Know About School Tests - Softcover

Popham, W. James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0205305954 ISBN 13: 9780205305957

Publisher: Allyn & Bacon, 1999

Synopsis

School tests now influence what teachers teach, how educators are evaluated, and whether children are successful in school. W. James Popham has written the book every parent needs to read. It explains what the tests your kids are taking really mean--and don't mean--about your children and their education. In this easy-to-read-and-understand book, you'll learn the pros and cons of different kinds of tests and other educational assessments. How you can decide when tests are being used effectively and when they're not. How both classroom tests and standardized tests are used and misused in judging your children and their school. More importantly, Dr. Popham teaches you to use this knowledge to communicate effectively with teachers and administrators so you can make a real difference in your child's education.

W. James Popham, Ed.D. is one of the country's foremost authorities on educational testing. He was a professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education for 29 years, teaching prospective teachers about testing and how to use testing as a means toward more effective classroom instruction. He is the author of more than 20 books and 300 articles and papers, primarily on educational testing. In 1968, Dr. Popham established IOX Assessment Associates, a Los Angeles test-development and evaluation agency that has created statewide student achievement tests for a dozen states. In addition, he is a former president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the founding editor of its quarterly journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy. Dr. Popham and his wife, Sarah Stanley, now live on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.

About this title

About the Author

W. JAMES POPHAM, Ed.D., is one of the country's foremost authorities on educational testing. He was a professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education for 29 years, teaching prospective teachers about testing and how to use testing as a means toward more effective classroom instruction. He is the author of more than 20 books and 300 articles and papers, primarily on educational testing. In 1968, Dr. Popham established IOX Assessment Associates, a Los Angeles test-development and evaluation agency that has created statewide student achievement tests for a dozen states. In addition, he is a former president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the founding editor of its quarterly journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy: Dr. Popham and his wife, Sarah Stanley, now live on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.

From the Back Cover

School tests now influence what teachers teach, how educators are evaluated, and whether children are successful in school.

W. James Popham has written the book every parent needs to read. It explains what the tests your kids are taking really mean-and don't mean-about your children and their education.

In this easy-to-read and understand book, you'll learn the pros and cons of different kinds of tests and other educational assessments. How you can decide when tests are being used effectively and when they're not. How both classroom tests and standardized tests are used and misused in judging your children and their school. What's more, Dr. Popham teaches you to use this knowledge to communicate effectively with teachers and administrators so you can make a real difference in your child's education.

• The proper use and misuse of standardized test
• Which classroom tests help your child and which ones don't
• What information (and assumptions) teachers use in grading your child
• How you can evaluate teachers
• The pressure to improve test scores - and its consequences

Each chapter closes with a brief summary, follow-up-activities, and a list of resources - books, articles, videotapes - you can (tactfully) bring to the attention of your child's teacher or school administrator.

From the Inside Flap

PREFACE

This is a book written for parents who want to improve their children's educational experiences. It's a book about school testing. I've tried to keep the book's content as simple as I can, but even I am reluctant to characterize the book as a "fun read." It has neither a plot nor a story line. And the book's main character is you.

Even though the book deals with an important topic, I've tried to maintain a light writing style, tossing in an occasional bit of whimsy to keep you alert. You'll also find a number of test-related cartoons to make the book somewhat more parent-palatable. If you read only the cartoons, however, you may miss much of the book's content.

Let me be clear about one thing. I want parents to read this book. School testing has, in recent decades, become really significant stuff. School testing now influences what teachers teach, how educators are evaluated, and whether children are successful in school. Parents should be playing pivotal roles regarding the use of school tests. But parents can't really participate as they should in dealing with school tests if they are uninformed about school testing.

Informed parents, however, can make an enormous difference in the way that educational tests are used. If you finish this book, you'll be in a position to make a genuine contribution to your own child's education and to the education of your child's classmates.

I've been wanting to write this book for a number of years now. I think both the topic (school testing) and the audience (parents) are as important as they come.

During three decades as a faculty member in the UCLA Graduate School of Education, I've written a good many books. (Professors are supposed to do that.) But I've never tried to write a more potentially useful book than this.

I hope you'll read this book about school tests from cover to cover. If you do, you'll not immediately move to a higher tax bracket, but it will help your child get a better education.

W.J.P.

Edition details

• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0205305954
• ISBN 13: 9780205305957
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 289