why can't the stupid woman realise CHILDREN DON'T LEARN FROM BEING TESTED ~ I wish I was allowed to tell her what I think of her tests!!!!!

[RTKangaMummy]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[angry ]







[ angry]

[RTKangaMummy]

and getting the sign wrong makes me even more frustrated

[PeachesMcLean]

YANBU.

Want to share?

[Feenie]

You are, of course, NBU.

Would like to know circs, though!

[seeyounexttuesday]

Why can't you tell her what you think of her tests though, if you disagree?

Angry for you too, as i hate tests!

[RTKangaMummy]

It is difficult to explain but this stupid woman thinks that giving DS exams after 5 weeks of term to decide how they will perform in 21 months time is the right idea

[MillyR]

So it is a formative test, so she can see what the children know, so she can work out the areas they need to work on/get help with? It is about planning their learning, rather than teaching them through the test, perhaps?

[Hulababy]

What tests are they and why is teh testing being done? Who is testing him? School? Are the others being tested?

I agree, children don't learn from tests. But then that isn't the purpose of a test - it is to assess, not teach.

Not sure what has happened or the background to know why it is causing so much anger. Hope everything is ok.

[1dilemma]

(waves Long time no see)

difficult one can't see how this will predict performance unless she doesn't plan on teaching them anything
however dc1 has been greatly helped by weekly mental maths/spelling tests etc so far this year (yr 1) but they are the 10 question type

[diddl]

No, children don´t learn from being tested.

They do,however learn what they know, and the teacher can see what sreas need working on.

[janeite]

Tests serve a useful educational purpose IF they are used diagnostically to inform future teaching/learning. Assume that isn't the case here though?

[RTKangaMummy]

I agree with weekly tests like Latin & French vocab etc

These are exams to decide triple science or double science GCSE but it is being decided on 5 weeks work for the exams which are in 21 months time

Which works out as 5% of the syllabus deciding which exams are taken ~ she isn't taking into consideration

a} are these 5 weeks work representative of the child's understanding of whole subject ie other 95% ?

b} the child may improve during the next few months while studying other 95%

[MillyR]

That does seem an absurd way of deciding.

[Hulababy]

I agree that that seems a very odd way of deciding who can and can't do double/triple science, so far in advance. I hope there is some way of readdressing any changes they make over the next 21 months!

[FourArms]

We got to choose whether we wanted to do double or triple. It was one of our options, so those that chose triple got extra science teaching time. If they go for triple, will they have the same teaching, but be expected to sit the triple exams when others sit the double? That seems a bit mad IMO. I think parent/child choice should have a big impact (as well as the previous results the child has attained), because having individual sciences made A-Levels easier IMO.

We got to do statistics and mathematics if we were top set (so took 2 GCSEs from the same teaching time others got for just maths), but we were a seperate class, just expected to learn more quickly.

[kingprawntikka]

Are you sure that the real exam won't be for 21 months?my son did his G.C.S.E's last school year and did triple science. It was examined after each module,with each module accounting for 25% of their final grade. There were three exam periods plus a 25% mark that came from a practical for each science. My friend's daughter is doing triple science . She has just gone into year ten and her first real exams are in January. I don't know if all exam boards work this way for science .

[RTKangaMummy]

I am sure of the details cos I know the Heads of Chemistry & Physics very well ~ it is the new IGCSE exam and so is not modular

They only take one lot of final exams in June 2011 and there is NO coursework to make up part of the final mark. So it is like the old O level.

The teaching time is the same for triple and double

It is that this stupid woman {who is Head of Science} wants to make the decision on whether they do the triple or double now

She wants them to get A* in all three exams to be considered for triple ~ this is on 5% of the syllabus

She isn't listening to the Heads of Depts or the parents

Obviously they can in the future move from triple to double but not the other way round cos they won't have done all the indepth work

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sorry this wasn't really the right place to put my ranting ~ I think we ought to have a RANTING or SHOUTING section on MN

.

[snorkie]

Mostly they do work that way kingprawn. First exams will most likely be either Jan09 or more likely May 2010. As the first set of exams for both are common, perhaps a better strategy would be to use the results of them to decide which way to go, but I can see that a decision needs to be taken at some point and that those opting for triple will need to be the ones that grasp the topics quickly & easily (in order to cover the extra work easily), so are likely to be doing well even after 5 weeks.

But why not look at their performance from last year too to help inform the descision?

[snorkie]

Ahh, iGCSE. x-posted there. Could still probably use end of year 10 internal tests to decide, though I suppose the double children might benefit from going at a slower pace for more of year10. Can still look at yr 9 and earlier achievements though.

[RTKangaMummy]

I agree looking at last year would make common sense but this woman is determined that she is correct and so won't consider suggestions from others

I agree that the decision needs to be made and I agree that sets 6-8 do double and 1-3 do triple

It is sets 4 and 5 that I have a problem with ~ everyone else says that they should do triple for the moment and then decide when they have done more than the 5% ~ which way they should go

Cos as I said earlier the decision can be changed from triple to double but not the other way round

I was awake from 2am this morning fuming about this blooming woman

She won't listen to anyone and their point of view

[snorkie]

Some people eh?

Seems plain as mud that the borderline cases should go for the triple to start with to me - presumably the sets have already been determined on year 9 performances. It's the lower sets who would struggle with the faster pace that need to know from the outset.

Not much you can do though, if she's determined - unless you can fudge the test results!

[RTKangaMummy]

Yes the sets are decided on year 9 results and teacher input

Sets 1-3 are all equal and sets 4-5 are equal and 6-8 are lower in order iyswim

DS is in set 4 and he wants to do triple as do we

[snorkie]

Hope you can sort it out OK then RTKM. But if he does end up just doing 2 it won't make much odds in the longer term - he should still be able to do science A levels etc. if he wants to.