Latest Column

Evanston RoundTable Writing

I wanted to share my latest Evanston RoundTable column with my Simone Says subscribers.

This column felt like a long time coming and just scratches the surface of a concept I refer to as the “student-achievement microscope,” which is an intense hyper-focus on student testing data.

Our worth as educators becomes entirely entangled with these data points.

Tests are tests. They are one measure, one piece of a puzzle. But there are so many important factors missing from the student achievement picture if we look only at standardized test scores.

Something I don’t explore in this column is test-taking fatigue, which is very prevalent in my school. What happens when our kids are over-tested in their day to day lives? When it seems like all they ever do is test? When a simple end of unit assessment lasts multiple days? How does this practice impact all test scores?

I wrote A Map of the Universe last summer, which inspired this recent ERT column.

I hope you’ll read this article. And of course, thanks for subscribing and reading my words!