Midterm Exams

It is midterm exam week at school. As a resource room teacher, I see a good sampling of the tests that are given. My observations give rise to the following questions:

Dear Teacher,

1) Are you using the same exam that you have used in past years?

2) Could a student who has never taken your course pass your exam?

3) If your learners were to retake the same exam three weeks from now (with no further studying), how would their retake scores compare to their original scores?

Thoughts:
1) If you are using the same exam that you have used in past years...though you have a strong grasp on your curriculum frameworks, you may be giving weight to the belief that youth have empty heads waiting to be filled. Your students are likely asking, "When will I ever use this again?"

Research proves another testing practice to be more successful. Which is, if your exam varies with each new group of learners... this semester's focus probably emerged from meeting your learners at their level of understanding and paying attention to their areas of interest as you moved forward. This increases student engagement.

2) Could a student who has never taken your course pass your exam? This student would have the same set of opportunities given in class (e.g. open notes, open book, allowing one 3x5 notecard full of notes). If your answer is yes, well...

If a student who has never taken your course would find difficulty passing your exam...be rewarded in the knowledge that your students have gained something from their time with you.

3) If your learners were to retake the same exam three weeks from now, how would their retake scores compare to their original scores? My prediction is that in most situations, test scores would go down and this would be a sign that the test assessed memorization of facts - soon after forgotten.

If your learners would perform similar or better, this is a good sign that you are teaching for retention, understanding, and transfer of knowledge. Current research puts an emphasis on learning with understanding.

Assessment is a skill that needs deeper focus in our teacher training programs!