Real TKES, Day 1: S.L.O. pre-test

Oh my goodness - what a day.  I gave my first SLO pre-test to my 6th grade class today.  Compared to the CRCT, ITBS, CogAT, and SAT tests, the S.L.O. tests don't feel quite as "standardized."  This has led to a lot of questions regarding the validity and reliability of the tests - quite founded I might add.  Despite the best intentions of the personnel who created the tests, the directions, and developed the SLOs, clearly, more work needs to be done.  I got the impression that this was legislation passed down onto public education from people who did not comprehend the process of education.  Not that I'm a big fan of the process because I have worked a long time to make it more efficient and effective, but the public education behemoth can only move so fast...

Now, having said that, here are some observations from today - my class and colleagues' classes - perhaps these may assist you.

1. The students need to arrive on time for class - just like Administrators do for the CRCT.
2. For some of the SLOs, there are performance tasks.  The teacher in charge will need to see the SLO questions, or at least the performance section of the test, so that preparations can be made!  In HomeEc, many materials have to be set up before the testing, in band, a 4-measure rhythm has to be determined, a band excerpt has to be selected, a band performance piece has to be chosen, and a technical exercise must be selected; teachers were calling me 20 minutes before the test asking what was required, exactly.
3. The administrator/evaluator in charge of scheduling must be aware of the time allotments for the tests.  
1. One test had three portions: a written portion (45 minutes minimum), a performance portion (individual performance [5 minutes per student] and whole group performance  [15 minutes]), and an evaluation/listening portion (5 minutes).
2. It was assumed in the writing of the SLO that the 45 minute Connections class period would be extended to 90 minutes so that all parts of the test could be administered in one day.  In School A, the period was extended to 90 minutes; in School B the class period was kept the same (45 minutes).  School A made it through all portions of the tests in the 90 minutes.  School B can't fulfill the requirements because the students have to enter the room, get pencils, distribute the tests and answer sheets, fill out their name, etc., etc.  Impossible to accomplish if the schedule isn't adjusted.
3. If students are required to sing/play/demonstrate a mastery of some skill and the time is allotted for 5 minutes per student, what does the chorus teacher do who has 70 students in first period?  You do the math of how long that will take - just for the performance piece.
4. Be sure that the students who have IEPs are not pulled out too soon.  Some of ours were pulled out during home room, and then there seemed to be a scurry to make sure they could demonstrate all of the performance aspects that were required during the time allotted.

In short, organization is key, but since most schools have not implemented these SLOs before, the administrators may not be as keen on the details to making it run smoothly.

If you've made it this far in the BLOG, congratulations!  You should know that I was on the original committee to write the SLOs (and I think our team did a GREAT job), I helped on the second review committee to make revisions, and helped communicate with other teachers in the county so that our process (as a subject matter) would go smoothly!  

Day 2 and on: scoring the papers, giving totals, tabulating the results.  Should be fun.

Good luck, and best wishes.  Respectfully,

Glenn