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PLAIN TALK ABOUT TESTING:
A Reporter’s Guide to Testing in Education
April 15-17, 2009
Educational Testing Service
Princeton, NJ
Sponsored by:
WHO IS THIS FOR?
This workshop will help reporters and editors covering schools and education policy at the local, state and federal levels become more informed abut national standardized testing and achievement gap issues in education and how to draw stories out of the statistics. For the first time, journalists of color will meet with testing experts at the headquarters where many of the tests are created to exchange ideas about how to improve relationships among the media, educators and the developers of the exams. Used at all levels of the educational process, from grade school to graduate schools and in teacher certification, standardized tests have become increasingly controversial and important in the lives of all students, including the disadvantaged. If education is your beat or your goal, don’t miss this premier opportunity.
REGISTER ONLINE
www.MyNABJ.org
REGISTRATION RATES
Before April 15-17, 2009
Members: $59
Non-Members: $149
After April 15-17, 2009
Members: $99
Non-Members: $199
Education policy, large-scale assessments, college entrance exams, graduate entrance exams and other tests are critically important in the efforts to assure equity and opportunity in our country. Educational Testing Service was founded 60 years ago with the mission to assure equity and opportunity for all. Today, it is the premier education research, assessment and education policy organization in the world. Its tests are better known than the research and the institution behind them. This meeting will allow reporters to get “up close and personal” with an institution that makes a difference.
Understanding the “Achievement Gap” – Causes and Solutions with Michael Nettles
Dr. Nettles, ETS senior vice president and internationally known expert on the
“achievement gap,” will lead a discussing on the causes of the divide that separates African
American and Latino students from their peers in standardized testing results and explore
Solutions to the problems. Differences in performance show up early in tests used to assess performance under the No Child Left Behind Act, but are seen throughout the age spectrum in other tests. African American teacher candidates, for instance, have lower pass rates than others on their certifying exams. What do the numbers mean? What’s being done about it? What don’t they mean? What’s being done about it? What do lower pass rates mean for increasing the number African Americans in the teacher pipeline? These are issues that will continue to dominate education policy and news about schools. Learn to navigate the statistics and analyze the trends and potential solutions in your area.
What Makes Tests Valid, Useful and Fair?
ETS research scientists and administrators will walk journalists through the process of test making. Standardized tests have an enormous effect on all students, and many of them are developed and administered by ETS. How are they created? How do those who create tests decided if tests measure what students know? Are tests reliable and fair? How are educators, especially those of color brought into the process? How are the tests scored?
Bias Awareness
Cultural bias in testing has long been raised as an issue that might affect performance. How far have we come in reducing or eliminating bias in tests? What makes a question cultural biased? Individual biases can have negative effects on students’ ability to learn and to test well on what they know. Becoming more aware of – and in control of – our personal biases is crucial to educating and assessing students. This session explores how educators how educators’ attitudes toward students, teaching, and high-stakes tests can affect student success.
The Great Testing Debate
High stakes testing used in assessing schools under the No Child Left Behind Act as often generated criticism that educators are “teaching the test” and that the results are often harmful and stressful for children, particularly children of color. The theory is that tests should help educators improve the schools and match teaching methods to student’s needs and deficiencies. In some cases, however, journalists have discovered that educators were cheating or manipulating results to make schools look better, or forcing out students perceived as pulling down results. Parents and experts have complained that curricula are being gutted to teach only what is on the tests. Are the tests or the teachers at fault? What can be done to fix the problems? How can students better prepare for tests? Are there better tools for finding out what students know? |
