Top-Down Motivation of Students
A School's Attitude Toward Testing Sets the Tone for its Students
Recently, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) completed several weeks of standardized testing all across the United States. Also known as “the Nation’s Report Card” and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, NAEP prides itself as being the only continuing assessment of U.S. student achievement in mathematics, reading, science, and other subjects.
Every two years, “representative samples” of students in the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades are selected by NAEP to participate in the assessment. Public schools are mandated by the No Child Left Behind law to have their 4th and 8th graders participate, if selected. This year, there was a particular push to include a large number of high schools. Parents have the right to refuse to allow their children to participate, and the students themselves may refuse.
NAEP strives to develop a clear picture of academic progress over the years. To that end, the assessment changes little from testing cycle to testing cycle. In its effort to provide a “common metric for all states and selected urban districts,” NAEP uses the same sets of test booklets all across the country, and the contract staff receives training and support to ensure that standardized procedures are followed and the security of the testing materials is preserved.
Nonetheless, NAEP has no control over school attitude toward the testing. Nor does NAEP have any way to measure school motivation of students (other than 12th graders, for which it has developed best practices and other guides).
Motivation Factors into Attitude
Sarah Hutton, a New Jersey-based assessment administrator for NAEP for several testing cycles, has seen first-hand the effect that a school can have on students who take the test. In written responses to e-mail questioning in March 2009, Hutton indicated that in the 2009 testing cycle, “As a whole, most of the students were positive about taking the test because the administrators encouraged them to do their best.”
In post-assessment debriefing, some school administrators in selected schools in Central New Jersey reported that they had met with the students beforehand to explain that the assessment measures the knowledge and ability of students in the state and across the country and to encourage them to get enough rest the night before the assessment, to eat a good breakfast, and to put forth their best effort on the test. Some schools, particularly high schools, went so far as to offer free breakfast or snacks to the test-takers. In contrast, other school administrators admitted that they had done very little to prepare their students for the NAEP experience or to acknowledge their participation in the effort. Often, this resulted in a high degree of student absences from the test.
Grade, Public/Private School Differences
Hutton did note that the age or grade of the students made some difference in attitude toward the testing experience. “The fourth graders were more motivated and interested in doing well because of the positive attitude and encouragement of the administrators.” Children of that young age appeared more eager to please and to show how well they could perform on the standardized test.
Hutton also administered the test to eighth graders in an inner-city public school and in a private, religious school. Although the attendance was better in the highly controlled environment of the private school, there were no overt differences in the discipline and politeness displayed by the eighth graders in either school.
True Comparability of Test Results
Some schools are enthusiastic participants in the massive, nation-wide effort. Other schools – usually with good reason – view NAEP as yet another mandated test they must “get through.” These differences in school attitudes raise the question of just how comparable the NAEP results really are.
Do Not Disturb
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