Is two weeks of MCAP testing really necessary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Add to the madness that elementary students will see geometry questions on the test (they are on the practice tests) and yet MCPS has removed the geometry units from the Eureka Curriculum. (In 4th grade, geometry is unit 4. This unit is not taught. Similar with 3rd and 5th grades.) MCPS says don’t teach it, and yet students will see geometry questions on MCAP.

Insane.

It will be the same for every grade PP. Sorry to tell you but the curriculum especially for this year in MCPS did not cover everything on the test. It's really stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also in middle school 8th graders now have an additional test for Social Studies. They have MISA and MCAP Social Studies on top of all of the other tests.

The Social Studies test is new, experimental and in response to the Maryland Blueprint. They are having feedback sessions on the Maryland Blueprint (or maybe they were having them recently?) In any event, if Maryland's testing is out-of-whack, I hope that comes into the feedback. Pearson shouldn't be driving the train.

[Anonymous]

What is the purpose of MCAPs? To get individual data on the progress of each kid? Or assess the effectiveness of the school’s teaching on a broader level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Add to the madness that elementary students will see geometry questions on the test (they are on the practice tests) and yet MCPS has removed the geometry units from the Eureka Curriculum. (In 4th grade, geometry is unit 4. This unit is not taught. Similar with 3rd and 5th grades.) MCPS says don’t teach it, and yet students will see geometry questions on MCAP.

Oh, that’s ridiculous. I have a 4th grader. Why did they remove it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree. MCAPs are a huge time waster. MAPs are useful.

I wish the state legislature would pass legislation forcing the state to accept equivalent tests like the MAP in order to reduce the testing burden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of MCAPs? To get individual data on the progress of each kid? Or assess the effectiveness of the school’s teaching on a broader level?

State level measure of school effectiveness and monitoring that students are on track to graduate. Legacy of No Child Left Behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of MCAPs? To get individual data on the progress of each kid? Or assess the effectiveness of the school’s teaching on a broader level?

State level measure of school effectiveness and monitoring that students are on track to graduate. Legacy of No Child Left Behind.

Yep. Required by state law. And a complete waste of so much instructional time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of MCAPs? To get individual data on the progress of each kid? Or assess the effectiveness of the school’s teaching on a broader level?

To rate schools on Greatschools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of MCAPs? To get individual data on the progress of each kid? Or assess the effectiveness of the school’s teaching on a broader level?

State level measure of school effectiveness and monitoring that students are on track to graduate. Legacy of No Child Left Behind.

Yep. Required by state law. And a complete waste of so much instructional time.

Why is it so much though? I'm not opposed to some testing but after the awful virtual year of barely any instruction it is a huge disservice and insulting to students and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM: Too much testing is awful!
DCUM: Why doesn't Larla have finals? How will she learn to take tests?

Midterms and finals test what is taught in that class. MCAP tests general reading comprehension instead of actual taught content. It just shows us what we already know. Students who test well tend to have very good decoding skills AND good background knowledge about a wide variety of topics. As a teacher, I care about what students know about what has been taught to them. Most students in our school don't take MCAP seriously at all. They finish in 20 minutes and take a nap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM: Too much testing is awful!
DCUM: Why doesn't Larla have finals? How will she learn to take tests?

Midterms and finals test what is taught in that class. MCAP tests general reading comprehension instead of actual taught content. It just shows us what we already know. Students who test well tend to have very good decoding skills AND good background knowledge about a wide variety of topics. As a teacher, I care about what students know about what has been taught to them. Most students in our school don't take MCAP seriously at all. They finish in 20 minutes and take a nap.

What about APs?

[Anonymous]

There is way too much testing. I work at a high school and if parents could just see the amount of time, effort and expense that goes into testing, they would be shocked. It affects everyone and we have two full time administrators who are unable to work on anything else but testing. They are highly competent people but they are super stressed out with testing and cannot help the school with anything else. Others including teachers get pulled in as well. If we could redirect these resources to improving teaching and learning, kids would be a lot better off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of MCAPs? To get individual data on the progress of each kid? Or assess the effectiveness of the school’s teaching on a broader level?

Good questions. It cannot be the first one since the result is not known until 5 months later. How could this test benefit the students?

[Anonymous]

I absolutely agree there’s too much testing.

And I hope they everyone who agrees will quit obsessing over how schools are “ranked” based on that testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of MCAPs? To get individual data on the progress of each kid? Or assess the effectiveness of the school’s teaching on a broader level?

I wish they could simply use MAP and reduce the amount of testing. I mean even taking MAP-M/R 3 times per year seems excessive and I'm all for accountability.