The CST.. A Few Thoughts

I would first like to point out that I believe in having some kind of standard educational benchmark in order to ensure quality education for all citizens is very necessary. NCLB and the current system of standardized testing, while far from perfect, is still doing some important work on behalf of examining our public school system. In California, the CST (California Standardized Test) has brought the spotlight on groups of students that have been overlooked and or otherwise inequitably treated. This is just a reflection of some areas that can be improved on, however, with the onset of "Common Core" standards there may be little need for these observations.

During my current assignment for my teaching candidate placement (student teaching) I was able to see many different perspectives of this testing. During the course of four days the students at my school are subjected to just shy of four hours of testing each day and then expected to attend class for the duration of each day. My first concern is that these students are slammed by so much undiluted testing in such a short period of time. If the tests were not able to be altered than maybe shorten each period of testing and have the CST go for eight days. While administering these test sessions it became clear that by Friday the students were burnt out and were not able to give their full effort to the testing. In that case how can we get sufficient evidence of learning on those tests.

During this testing week, during my prep periods, I volunteered to assist the administration staff with the processing of the test/answer sheet bins. Due to the sensitive nature of the testing there was a very specific way that the materials must be handled and there was simply too few staff to efficiently handle the process. It seemed to be unnecessarily strict and classified, having to sign affidavit etc, that valuable resources are wasted on testing that should not be so top secret. I am well aware that these protocols are in place to guarantee quality results but is it really that necessary?   

 Considering the "high stakes" nature of the testing I believe that there is abundant undue stress placed on the staff and students.