AARHUS UNIVERSITET OCTOBER 1 2014 TESTING AND DIFFERENTIATION
AARHUS UNIVERSITET OCTOBER 1. , 2014 TESTING AND DIFFERENTIATION A CRITICAL APPROACH TO STANDARDIZED TESTING IN EDUCATION KRISTINE KOUSHOLT, AARHUS UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION VERSITET UNI
AARHUS UNIVERSITET INTRODUCTION Post doc. project concerning the practice of standardized testing in the Danish primary and lower secondary school (Folkeskole). Funded by the Danish Independent Committee of Research (Ministry of Science, Technology and Development) KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 2
AARHUS UNIVERSITET EMPIRICAL MATERIAL Qualitative interviews with pupils and teachers, participant observations, Five school classes at four schools. Two schools placed in low socio-economic status (SES) areas; One 2 nd grade (8 -9 years of age), two 8 th grades (14 -15 years of age) One school placed in a middle SES area; One 6 th grade (12 -13 years of age) One school placed in a high SES area; One 2 nd grade (8 -9 years of age) Socio-economic status - an important role in relation to the consequences of testing (Study N. F. S. 1992; Mc. Neil 2000; Hempel-Jorgensen 2009). KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 3
AARHUS UNIVERSITET THEORETICAL BASIS Danish-German Critical Psychology Historical dialectical materialistic foundation Test results; unambiguous, decontextualized measures of children’s cleverness and abilities Testing connote high legitimacy KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 4
AARHUS UNIVERSITET ARGUMENTATION Fully implemented in 2010 Two-fold argument for implementing Danish national standardized testing; 1) To increase academic achievement and Denmark’s global competitiveness 2) To combat negative social inheritance Paradox/comtradictory imperative – aporia (Allan 2010 with reference to Derrida) Second argument - crucial in ensuring a vast political majority voted in favor of standardized testing (Gustafsson 2012). illegitimate for the socially progressive to oppose national standardized tests under certain conditions (ibid. ). KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 5
AARHUS UNIVERSITET Presented as a formative assessment method Not made public and not used for ranking schools Allen (2012); - similar disposition towards power, learning; individual progression - prearranged outcomes. Computer-based, self-scoring, multiple-choice and adaptive design KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 6
AARHUS UNIVERSITET “Exemption [from the national tests] is rarely necessary. It will only exceptionally be necessary to exempt students with ADHD or autism from participation. This is because the tests adapt to the students' level during the test; that students can take the test over several days, and that students can use all the means they know from everyday life” (http: //www. uvm. dk/Uddannelser/Folkeskolen/De-nationale-test-ogevaluering/De-nationaletest/~/media/UVM/Filer/Udd/Folke/PDF 11/110921_de_nationale_test_for _elever_med_ADHD_og%20 autisme. ashx, translated by Kristine Kousholt and Bjørn Hamre (2014)). KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 7
AARHUS UNIVERSITET PROCESSES OF DIFFERENTIATION Tests; differentiate themselves – place children differently. Logic; children’s different beforehand - individualized strategies of differentiation – document differences and contribute to equality. Testing - not only document differences; contributes to differences KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 8
AARHUS UNIVERSITET Right/wrong/cleverness/non-cleverness - Check on knowledge/cleverness “We’re excited [about receiving the results], at least I am. For what if you don’t have any rights or… if maybe you only get 10% right and the other ones may have had 50% right or something like that. ” (girl, 2 nd grade) distance/alienate pupils from their abilities – dependent on an external technology to reveal (Stevens 2010). Differentiation//Transparency (Foucault 2002/1975) Complex interplay between what tests do and children’s sense-making Children as active participants of test practice (Kousholt, under review) KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 9
AARHUS UNIVERSITET PARTICULAR DIFFICULTIES DURING TESTING Commonalities; girls from schools placed in a low SES area, marginalized in the peer community, question own cleverness and academic abilities. KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 10
AARHUS UNIVERSITET Farzana: ”I thought… Ah, I just have to hurry up and finish because then I can go out in the school yard too, because I was sat right next to the window. Then I looked out a little while I had my hand raised, then I watched how they [the other children] were playing and stuff. ” Kristine: ”So you could look out and see them playing? ” Farzana: ”Yes, and then I just thought: ‘I’m like in a cage!” Farzana: “I just thought that if I made it through the test then I would get the key and get out of the cage. ” Farzana: “I couldn’t understand anything, that’s why. ” Captivity of testing // Freedom of playing KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 11
AARHUS UNIVERSITET Rikke 8 th grade Giving up beforehand Expresses expectation of poor grades. Answering quickly and randomly. Conflicts with teachers and other pupils (Kousholt 2013) KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 12
AARHUS UNIVERSITET reproduce the tests’ differentiation - exaggerated way. Mc. Dermott’s (1996) observations of Adam Uffe Juul Jensen (2009) – paradox; avoid exclusion and social marginalization // maintain powerlessness, exclusion, power and control (ibid. ). KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 13
AARHUS UNIVERSITET CONCLUSION Children - participate in different ways from different social positions – different reasons to act (Højholt 2011). Testing - not only identify differences - producing differences. Socio-economical status Negative culture of blaming and labelling (Hempel-Jorgensen 2009). Complex social processes Processes of differentiation; social processes of differentiation. KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 14
AARHUS UNIVERSITET Thank you very much for listening KRISTINE KOUSHOLT 1 15
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