Teaching Today: Testing Our Values vs. Valuing Testing

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In this episode
​Depending on your perspective, the postponement of standardized tests can be seen as a blessing or a curse. For many educators, this reality presents a chance to unpack the connection between testing and teaching, and examine how we might ensure excellence, equity, and accountability in the absence of standardized testing.

Dr. Frank Barnes, Chief of Equity and Accountability at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina, joins us as we consider the meaning and effectiveness of testing in the wake of a global pandemic.

What have we learned?
Final thoughts from our hosts & panelists

​Courtney Brown
​We can return to the standards in standardized testing and unpack them to understand what they might look like in our classrooms. We can use them to do some progressive teaching online and create projects that will better engage students — while also letting students practice their skills and stay in shape for the tests they'll have to take in the future. ​

Dr. Roberta Lenger Kang
​A huge, invisible part of our work is believing in our students. To believe in them, we have to know them. We have to care about them and trust that they can. What does that trust look like, and how can we communicate it to our students?

Dr. Sherrish Holloman
This pandemic has tested all of us, no matter how many years we've been in education. The innovative practices that have come out of this experience suggest to me that a lot of things we're doing now, we could've done before. In adjusting our practices, we have learned so much about our students and our teaching — and we should never lose sight of what we've learned, even after the pandemic is over.

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TESTING OUR VALUES

UNPACKING NYS ACCOUNTABILITY

TEACHERS ON TESTING

TAGS: TEACHING TODAY, TESTING