Standard testing

I have recently read some posts on standardized testing, which is currently taking part in several parts of the world. And this is always an interesting subject to discuss. I haven't been teaching in Sweden for a while but right now it is the system I know and it works a bit like this.

In Sweden we used to have standardized tests for Swedish, Mathematics and English in 5th and 9th grade. As a part of trying to discover students with difficulties they have recently added testing in 3rd grade as well. All the tests are mandatory. In 3rd grade the students are tested in Swedish and Mathematics, in 5th/6th grade they are tested in Swedish, Mathematics and English, and in 9th grade they are tested in Swedish, Mathematics, English, Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

The tests are supposed to be a tool to get an equivalent and fair assessment of the students knowledge in comparision to the national curriculums. They are supposed the support the teacher to assess the students and are not supposed to be the only method of assessment during a student's schoolattendance. They can be indicative for the character for the individual student. The swedish national school board (Skolverket) works on producing material for teachers on how to assess students' answers in the different tests and the assessment guidelines (also issued by Skolverket) are formative. On the homepage of Skolverket you can find your way to examples of test questions and other information for teachers, students and parents.

At the Edublogger there recently was a post about standardized testing, and in ‘Sound off’ on standardized testing: It’s a love-hate relationship Ronnie Burt is asking some interesting questions.
1. Are test scores tied to teacher pay? Should they be?
In Sweden test scores or character scores aren't yet tied to pay, but there has been some discussions about it. I don't know if I find it a good idea to pay teachers more if their students score high or "get" higher characters. I think that it might lead to cheating and "character inflation". In Sweden there is indiviualised pay, but I think that it is important that pay is based on what you achieve overall in your classroom with your students. Just one test doesn't say much ...

2. Do scores determine if students are moved on from one grade to the next?
It is very unusal for students to be left behind in Sweden. The students are moved to the next grade and you hope to "repair the damage" on the way. Since they don't test every year scores doesn't matter in that way. As I wrote earlier they have realised that they need to test earlier to (hopefully) be able to put in the efforts earlier and that's why they are testing 3rd-graders as well.

3. Is there a better way to do it all?
I don't know if there is a better way. Swedish schools are right now preparing to adjust to a new curriculum, which is valid from the school year of 2011/2012.  We have gone from 5 character steps (when I was in school), to 3 character steps and now they are going for 5 character steps again. I find that it is a difficult issue. The school system has several tasks in the society and one has always been a sorting function. How that is to be done, is something that I think that we will always debate and I also think that it will always change - hopefully in accordance with changes in society.

I will have to think more about testing and I'll have to read up on how they do it here in Norway, before I post again.

If you want to read another story on testing visit Diary of a Public School Teacher and the post Testing Testing 1 2 3 ...

What does testing look like for you?