Testing Tales

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Handouts
	Why Test Students?
	What Parents Should Know About Test Types
	Effects of State Testing
	Helping Your Child Perform Well on Tests
	Test Taking
	What Parents Should Know About Test Accuracy and Use
	Issues in Testing Very Young Children
	Testing Students with Learning Disabilities
	Achievement Gaps in Our Schools
	Using Student Tests to Measure Teacher Quality
	Making Sense of Test Scores
	What Are “Multiple Intelligences?”
	Multiple Intelligences and Your Children
	No Child Left Behind

Testing Tales

Description
Participants work in small groups to read and discuss "testing tales." These "tales" are short vignettes about some aspect of testing. Many are direct quotes from testing experts, others are summaries of research studies or news articles. Each presents a viewpoint, usually with evidence, followed by one or two provocative questions designed to help the reader think critically about the viewpoint and evidence that is presented. The testing tales range the full continuum of viewpoints, from pro-testing to anti-testing and many places in between.

The purpose of this activity is to provide participants with an understanding of the wide range of viewpoints there are around testing, and to model the need to ask critical questions and make up one’s own mind. Through this experience, participants gain a more complex understanding of a complex topic.

Use
A chance to deepen understanding of testing and accountability and think critically about the barrage of anti- and pro-testing views. Best used after participants understand what standards-based reform is. Use after introductory activity, such as PowerPoints: What is Meant by Accountability? and What is Standardized Testing? Nice alternative to straight information delivery. Enables participants to explore testing controversy in a comfortable setting.