High Stakes High School : A Guide for the Perplexed Parent

by Allison Zmuda; Mary Tomaino

• ISBN13: 9780743212687
• ISBN10: 0743212681
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-28
• Publisher: Kaplan Publishing

Summary

You can make a difference! * Feeling overwhelmed by the fast-paced changes sweeping America's high schools? * Does it seem as if high school is much more complicated for your teen than it was for you? * Interested in becoming more involved at your teen's school but don't know where to start? If recent media stories about tougher high school graduation requirements and high stakes state tests have led you to wonder how you can help your teen succeed in this challenging new academic environment, High Stakes High School can help. Written by three high school teachers with a combined fifty years of experience working with students and families, this guide will show you how to: * Have a truly effective meeting with your teen's teacher using a valuable checklist of important questions. * Communicate with the principal and other administrators at your teen's school about standardized testing, past score results, school policies, and academic issues important to your child. * Understand your teen's learning style and play a more meaningful role in his or her high school experience. * Become involved at your local high school in ways that will benefit your teen. High Stakes High School will take you from perplexed to prepared.

Author Biography

Allison Zmuda, Mary Tomaino, and Jeanetta Miller represent three generations of high school teachers. Each has become an advocate for parental involvement. Allison Zmuda and Mary Tomaino are the authors of The Competent Classroom, a joint publication of the NEA and Teachers College Press, and Jeanetta Miller has written for English Journal.

Table of Contents

About the Authors	vi
Acknowledgments	vii
Your Stake in High Stakes Testing	ix
Section I: Understanding Standardized State Tests
A Parent's Guide to the Standards Movement	3	(18)
What Parents Need to Know about Standardized Tests	21	(12)
How Schools Prepare for Standardized Tests	33	(8)
Section II: Opening the Lines of Communication
How to Communicate with Teachers	41	(8)
How to Communicate with Administrators	49	(8)
How to Communicate with Your Teen	57	(8)
How to Communicate with Other Parents	65	(42)
Section III: Appendixes: Information for Parents
Appendix A: A Glossary for Parents	85	(4)
Appendix B: Web Resource Directory	89	(4)
Appendix C: High Stakes High School Exam Map	93	(2)
Appendix D: High School Tests Administered by Your State	95	(4)
Appendix E: State by State Survey	99	(4)
Appendix F: A Brief History of High School	103	(2)
Appendix G: National Education Goals---``Goals 2000''	105	(2)
Appendix H: Works Cited	107

Excerpts

Your Stake in High Stakes Testing

In 1983, the U.S. Department of Education's landmark report A Nation at Risk trumpeted the failure of American schools and called for drastic and immediate reform. The rise of the standards movement is a response to that call, culminating in an initiative established by national and state leaders called Goals 2000, which set eight goals for public schools. To assist schools in reaching these goals, the Department of Education drafted model standards in each area typically taught in school, and encouraged individual state departments of education to implement these standards in some form. Indeed, all states but Iowa have adopted state standards. (Iowa has elected to leave the responsibility to local districts.) Ideally, the state creates standards, aligns curricula with the standards, trains teachers, allows time for implementation in the classroom, and then administers a test that measures student achievement of the standards. Although use of standards for day-to-day work in the classroom has benefits for both students and teachers, problems arise when tests are administered before teachers and students are ready.

The batteries of state assessments that stem from the proliferation of standards at state and national levels are growing ever more important, not only to students, but also to school districts. The emerging wisdom seems to be that we should go ahead with standards and standardized state tests but be wary about attaching such high stakes to them. "High stakes tests" in a nutshell, are those that have real consequences -- whether they be negative (summer school, retention, etc.) or positive (scholarships, additional funding for the school, etc.) -- for the student, and, often, for the school as well.

The entire school team, central and school administrators and teachers, work together to ensure that the standardized test helps the school gather valuable information about student performance. They need to keep the community informed both before and after the test, determine how the district can make the best use of the testing process and results, train teachers efficiently and productively, and see that key skills to be tested are incorporated into teachers' daily lessons. The delicate balance must be maintained between teaching the curriculum and teaching the test but, when done well, standardized testing can refocus and strengthen public education.

So where does that leave you? Parents, whose role in education has traditionally been limited to bake sales and monitoring homework, have generally been left "out of the loop" in the development of standards. The purpose of this book is to help you understand the standards movement and its crucial role in your teen's education and to help you become an active partner in it, We hope that this book will serve parents of students who will increasingly be taking high stakes standardized assessments. It will provide you with information about how standards came about, how schools are using them now, and how you can become a valued participant in the continuing discussion.

You are entitled to accountability from your schools about what they have done and are doing to improve the quality of education. This book shows you how to ask for information about the standardized tests, both to become an active participant in the discussion of how to prepare students for the standardized testing and to help reinforce the work of the school at home.

The first section, "Understanding Standardized State Tests," provides a guide to the standards movement, tells you what you need to know about standardized state tests, and describes how schools prepare for them. These three chapters outline the origins of the standards movement, describe the role state and federal governments have played so far, and explain how you can stay current with changes in standards and testing for your state. Here it is important to note that the standards movement in education is changing and expanding rapidly. The examples that you read here are not set in stone, but indicate trends, patterns, and ideas.

In addition, the first three chapters explain the roles of the various groups in the school district: central and school administrators and teachers. Each has a distinct set of tasks to help the school prepare for the state test. When you try to familiarize yourself with the whole standardized test picture, it is helpful to know who has responsibility for what areas, so that you direct your concerns and questions in the appropriate direction.

Section two, "Opening the Lines of Communication," provides you with goals, protocols, and questions to use in initiating and continuing communication with teachers and administrators in your schools, with your own teenager, and with other parents. Since parents have been reluctant to intrude on the school's turf in terms of professional issues like testing, and since many parents and teachers are anxious about communicating with each other, we include specific strategies to increase your confidence and help to answer your questions and concerns. We also include strategies for communicating with your teenager; although your child is growing more independent every day, your interest still means a great deal and can reinforce the work of the school most positively. Finally, we suggest ways to get yourselves and other parents involved on an ongoing basis in the standards movement.

Because it is so important to speak the same language when sitting down at the table with school personnel, we have also included a glossary of key terminology and ideas about standards and testing in the "Information for Parents" section at the end of the book. It gives both definitions and suggestions for ways to clarify how the term applies in your teen's classes. Also included in the appendixes for your reference and further inquiry are state-by-state test surveys, Internet resources and other reading material, and more.

Dozens of public opinion polls and surveys resoundingly confirm that parents are an essential component of public education. Furthermore, parents who receive encouragement and training to become involved in standards work can make significant contributions to the school and community, and help to realize the full potential of the standards movement.

Fortified with the philosophy behind the standards movement, the practical knowledge of who does what, the strategies to get involved, and the key vocabulary, we hope that you will become a confident participant in the exciting changes going on in education. We also hope that High Stakes High School will help you join other parents to make your contributions even more significant.

Copyright 2001, by Kaplan, Inc.