Yesterday we reviewed questions from past CTB tests. Many of them seemed mediocre in quality.Today, we reviewed new test questions that were written specifically for North Dakota. I was impressed. The questions matched our standards and benchmarks, and even more importantly, assessed what we really teach.
Now, the bad news. There were only about fifteen of them. Trust me, we asked where the rest were. There weren't any more.
New questions that are written specifically for North Dakota cost money, lots of money. It is much cheaper to use the questions that are nationally normed.
It is time for North Dakota to ride a little faster down the Mah Dah Hey Trail (the picture above) and pay for more questions that assess what we teach. North Dakota teachers have always held themselves and their students to the highest standards (and benchmarks!). It is time for DPI and the North Dakota Legislature to hold themselves to the highest standards and find the funds to do it.
Until NCLB dies, we will have to push to make the best of a 'not so great' situation. I hope it is not a long road to an assessment that is as high in quality as the students it assesses.
Part of what this proves is that local often means better. I feel that the AIMS test would be better if teachers from Arizona wrote the questions. Instead, we end up with McGraw-Hill -created questions that fail to address our state's actual standards.
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