What do independent experts think about the USE?
Of course, everyone can talk about the correctness of the introduction of a unified state exam, but not everyone can approach this issue from a professional point of view, namely, not everyone is a teacher or professor. I understand that copy-paste is bad, but I would really like to post an article by I.F. Sharygin , who expressed his opinion on the state tests. And also below, I placed another copy-paste “What does the Minister of Education Fursenko think about the exam”. Do not consider this topic as not related to IT, because everything that is being done in our education may affect future IT staff.
Introduction
First of all, I want to note that I am not an opponent of tests in general.
')
Undoubtedly, tests give us quite an effective tool that can (and, of course, should) be used in the educational process, including for the final assessment of knowledge. Moreover, I can say a lot in defense of tests. But in this case, this is not the purpose of this note. I want to draw attention to the devastating consequences for our education that can occur if the tests become the main, and even more so the only tool for assessing the knowledge of schoolchildren, especially when decisions important for schoolchildren or teachers are made on the basis of this assessment: graduation , enrollment in an educational institution, etc.
But first a general remark. I believe that today, contrary to popular belief, the most inconvenient time for carrying out decisive reforms in the field of education. And they, reforms, are now planned a lot, and almost all of them are global. Here and twelve years of training, and standards, and testing, and alternative training, and God knows what else.
Such an abundance of reforms in the field of education at a time can not afford any very rich country, which we are not. But our education (of the Soviet period) was far from being the worst in the world, and mathematical education was admittedly even the best in the world.
In addition, for any reform, for any significant system restructuring, even according to the best plans and schemes, there is a significant deterioration in the quality of the tunable system in the beginning. There are serious internal contradictions, overcoming of which requires significant material and moral costs.
Today, the main goal in education, in my opinion, is its development, and in some places restoration based on traditional approaches.
Specifically about testing
One of the advantages of testing, according to the general opinion, is the objectivity of the assessment obtained, its independence from the person who conducts the testing. But, unfortunately, this assessment, if we are going to use it as an assessment of a student’s knowledge, contains a systematic error. And we are talking about the ideal, not existing in nature, like an ideal gas, testing. The fact is that there are quite numerous categories of students who, due to certain mental characteristics, do not correspond well to the test method and receive understated marks (respectively, there are those whose test scores are overestimated). This includes, first of all, frequent “in Russia” (and, by the way, among scholars) “stupid thoughts”, as well as so-called “testfobs”, who have a panicky fear of the testing procedure itself. According to experts (see, for example, E. B. Fedorov’s dissertation work), no more than 50% of students (in Russia) fall into the “area of ​​adequacy” of test technologies. It seems that in the USA this percentage is much higher.
It is possible that one of the reasons here is the long-term use of tests for a variety of purposes.
Habits and skills developed. But the main reason, I believe, is that the tests correspond well to the national character, the American mentality (and, consequently, the constant and long-term use of tests). But if so, then the test method can lose its neutrality and political apathy and become a tool for remaking the national mentality (by the way, some of the reformers publicly stated this goal).
Maybe this is the undeclared goal of reforms in our education?
The main question of mathematical education in Russia has always been the question: “Why?” - while for American education such was the question: “How?”. And it is precisely this question that we answer when testing.
The assertion that the goal of studying a subject, of individual topics is to obtain solid knowledge and skills in the framework of the relevant program, is both commonplace and even tautology. But still this is true, like almost every commonplace statement.
The school has various tools to determine how well this goal has been achieved by students. And only by acting with all these tools in the complex, we can properly manage the learning process. Here the instrument with the help of which final control, various types of student selection is carried out is especially important. A real school, whether we want it or not (they say that we do not want it), always replaces the learning goal: it is precisely the final control that becomes it.
In the transition to universal testing very quickly, the main goal for the teacher will be to prepare for the test. The relevant methods, which already exist, will not keep us waiting, allowing students not to study the subject to prepare students for the test.
A single test for admission to universities will lead to the complete destruction of mathematics in high school, and then in the universities themselves.
There are subjects whose content is poorly covered by the test system. And within the subject itself, some sections and skills are easily verified through testing, while others are difficult.
It is well known that the “most tested” of mathematical skills are arithmetic - the ability to perform four actions of arithmetic. On these topics a lot of tests have been compiled and are being compiled, among which there are quite decent ones. But there are almost no tests that test the ability to reason, to think logically. Outside the capabilities of the test technology is almost all geometry. It is clear that the widespread introduction of tests will simply force out some very important sections of elementary mathematics from school curricula. By the way, this is exactly what happened in the USA. Geometry practically disappeared from school programs there, and in mathematics lessons they are not taught to argue.
In the framework of one international program (TIMSS), a comparative survey of mathematics lessons was conducted in 8th grade of three countries: USA, Germany and Japan. Mathematical reasoning was met: in Japan, in 53% of the lessons reviewed, in Germany - in 20%, in the USA - in 0%. Geometry has been studied in the USA in just 2 years. By the way, I note that the lag in the program in the United States compared with Japan and Germany for children aged 13–15 is 2 years. I will also add to this point that tests drive into the pupils' heads an erroneous and even harmful syllogism, both for mathematical development and “in life”: the right answer is the right decision.
One of the biggest dangers associated with the use of test technologies is the exclusion of highly qualified specialists from the educational process. It happens in stages. Initially, there is no need for them at the verification stage. With the help of tests, the authorities got the opportunity to realize their long-held dream: to conduct an exam in mathematics without the participation of mathematicians.
"You give us the tests, give the answers, and then we'll figure it out ourselves." It is clear that the coolest specialists will not (and did not, as the international, and even a small Russian experience show) take part in this profanation (it’s funny that in our country the mathematics and mathematical tests that are issued on behalf of the state of and experts specifically for the tests). At the next stage, the authorities themselves, having seen quite primitive tests, begin to interfere in the process of compiling the tests themselves. This, according to Jerry Becker, occurred in California, where in recent years a real mathematical test war has unfolded. So, one of the tests proposed by mathematicians was rejected by the commission under the governor of the state. In particular, mathematical errors (?) Were found in it. For example, the authors of the test to the question: “Is a piece of 36x45 divided by 30?” Gave an affirmative answer. According to the members of the commission, this answer is incorrect, since none of the factors is divided by 30!
The use of ready-made tests greatly facilitates the work of the teacher. In principle, this is good. The teacher is freed from part of the routine work, free time appears, etc. But at the same time other problems arise and, in particular, the problem of maintaining (not to mention improving) the level of professional (subject) qualifications. Verification of test tasks and examinations takes place automatically and does not give any professional workload. The learning space covered by the tests, as already mentioned, is only part of the academic subject (here we are talking about mathematics). And if the teacher does not use special and additional funds for his professional development, simply for “keeping fit,” he will almost inevitably begin to degrade.
Moreover, the training system, which focuses exclusively on the use of test technologies, not only does not need well-mathematically trained teachers, but simply rejects them.
I will not say anything bad about teacher training in Russia (although, in the opinion of many specialists, the level of their training has significantly decreased recently), but I will give examples showing the level of training of teachers in the United States.
In 1999, the Liping Ma book was published in the United States, which compares the mathematical preparation of teachers in China and the United States. Here is one of the studies.
Two groups were selected — in China and the United States — of elementary school teachers who were asked the same questions. At the same time, according to the formal characteristics, teachers from the USA had higher qualifications - everyone had a higher education, and some had a master's degree, while Chinese teachers had education at the level of a pedagogical technical school (in our understanding). According to the author, teachers from China showed a completely normal level of mathematics, and I will not speak about them. Teachers from the United States showed a complete lack of mathematical literacy. For example, less than 50% were able to correctly perform the action: (1 3/4) :( 1/2).
Over 90% considered it true that with an increase in the perimeter of a figure (in particular, a rectangle) its area increases. Only one was able to build a counterexample. According to the testimony of George Malati (Finland), less than 1% of US math teachers were able to explain that a right-angled triangle with 8-inch hypotenuse and 5-inch hypotenuse does not exist (the issue of determining the area of ​​such a triangle was one important test for several years while no one, including the compilers of the test, for a long time did not pay attention to the fact that such a triangle is impossible).
Tests are the most marketable of all existing training technologies, and possibly the only truly market technology. Even the creation of high-quality tests can be put on stream, although this still requires good professionals and the process of creating them is not so cheap, and therefore beneficial. But the fact of the matter is that market relations are very quickly pushing competent professionals from the process of creating mass tests, or rather, they are simply not allowed to do this. All variety of tests is reduced to one, the most primitive variety - tests with a choice of the answer. As a result, the market is filled with frank hack, and the consumer gets used to consuming this hack.
Testing in the United States has long been a very profitable business. There are companies with serious capital and considerable income, specializing in the production of tests. It seems that this is already the case with us. Compete with this business in the field of education in terms of profitability can only be computer technologies, but for completely different reasons (I will not delve into this topic). But, unfortunately, computerization and tests are not competitors at all, but rather allies. Of all the educational technologies, tests are most suited to computer implementation.
Computerization and "testing" form a very aggressive fusion that can not only absorb most of the funds spent on education (we have), but also get into the taxpayers' pockets (paid testing, trading in tests, programs, etc.). And there, where big money and low qualifications create the conditions for corruption, corruption cannot arise.
And not about Russia only with its pathological propensity for corruption in question. The United States is no exception. Recently, a number of large scandals have erupted in the United States related to the large number of mistakes made during the final testing of schoolchildren. This is stated, in particular, in publications in the New York Times on September 15 and 17, 1999 and the Washington Post on September 20, 1999. The essence of the scandals is that many schoolchildren due to poorly chosen tests and incorrect the methods used in processing the test results received low marks and were sent to summer schools or even left for the second year. (There should be schoolchildren who received overestimated grades, but this is not mentioned in the mentioned notes.) The number of such schoolchildren in New York is, in the opinion of most experts, in the range from 2,000 to 3,000 (this is about the year 1999) .
Some experts call significantly larger numbers. The testing company demanded $ 3.3 million for its services from the city authorities of New York in 1999. In 1998, she received $ 2 million.
According to experts, similar phenomena occurred in other states, but there the interested companies managed to hide it. The authorities in New York also believe that serious mistakes were made during the final testing before, but not made public.
In my opinion, these examples clearly show signs of corruption in the US education system.
In the “Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary” it is written that “corruption is a crime consisting in the direct use by an official of the rights associated with his position for the purpose of personal enrichment”. And since the “Democratic (or Capitalist) Dictionary” has not yet come out, I will proceed from this definition.
According to Western experts, Russian society today is unusually corrupt and takes one of the last places in the world in terms of this indicator. (It seems that only Nigeria is behind.) However, we ourselves see it: for the sake of personal enrichment, almost all working Russians use their service opportunities. True, not all of these features are available.
But for some reason, Western experts are taking beyond the bounds of corruption the activities of an official who officially receives a very large monetary reward and conceals various violations on the part of the company in which he works. Such corruption, and this, in my opinion, is one of the varieties of corruption, quite often occurs in the so-called civilized countries, the list of which we always start with the United States, and is especially dangerous in education and medicine. And it is in these areas that it is most common. On the Internet on November 8, 1999, an article by Jonathan Fox appeared. Her name is (literally) - "Toasting our young people." (Grilling means toasting, as well as interrogation with addiction). After the headline follows: “The industry preparing for the SAT test begins in kindergarten. A small form with circles is a lot of money. ”(SAT tests are used to assess the knowledge of school graduates when entering universities).
Judging by the article, preparing for passing the tests and passing the tests in America is a business that our tutors and admissions boards of universities cannot even dream of. (It seems that the total annual income of test companies reaches several billion dollars.) However, people who take a part in this business have nothing to do with mathematics (most of the article is devoted to tests in mathematics) that do not have. The article mentions, for example, a certain Kaplan, who invested $ 25 million in creating a test system for third grade schoolchildren. These tests, of course, for a fee will soon be available on the Internet.
The conclusion is obvious: the introduction of testing as the main tool for the final assessment of schoolchildren’s knowledge, selection for admission to various educational institutions, the creation of specialized centers (companies) for the production of tests that receive official support, will dramatically deteriorate the quality of our education, create favorable conditions for the development of new and dangerous types of corruption. Tests are also dangerous with seeming simplicity of manufacture and ability to “reproduce” quickly. Having started to multiply, they quickly form a malignant tumor in the formation, in mathematical terms, first of all, with a fatal outcome that is inevitable and quick to form.
To be fair, it should be noted that tests are not so dangerous as the market mechanisms with which they are trying to manage education today. Under their influence, any system of testing and selection quickly slips onto the border of applicability: testing is reduced to the most primitive form with the choice of the answer to idiotic questions from the same idiotic set of options, and the traditional exam is made up of cumbersome and mathematically tasteless tasks, pass it without special costly training is impossible.
All examples belong to the American education system, since it is the United States that is the world leader in the use of test technologies in education, and our test apologists invariably cite it as a model to be emulated. Studying the American periodicals of the last half year (including the beginning of 2000), it can be concluded that a real anti-test campaign has unfolded in America today. (The article in the Los Angeles Times, January 18, 2000, is entitled "Testing destroys learning.")
We, on the contrary, suddenly became enamored with an extraordinary love for all kinds of tests. It seems that American test companies, losing the market at home, want to enter the markets of other countries.
From the above examples, it can also be seen that the problems of education, and even specifically of mathematical education, are of great concern to American society and are widely discussed on the pages of the most authoritative publications. And here we can only envy American educators and scientists.
Member of the Executive Committee of the International Commission for Mathematical Education (EC ICMI)
Sharygin Igor Fedorovich
At the meeting of the Ministry of Education and Science on the results of the unified state exam in 2008 and plans for its organization in 2009, the head of department Andrei Fursenko said that the Unified State Exam in Russia had taken root: “The Unified State Exam is the best tool for assessing students' knowledge. There is no going back. The USE will be implemented in the form in which it was spelled out in the law. ”
In my opinion, Sharygin provided weighty arguments to doubt the usefulness of the USE and our Ministry of Education. I already wrote that I think about Russian education here , so I will not repeat. Thanks for attention.
And what do you think about the exam?
The words of I.F. Sharygin
Introduction
First of all, I want to note that I am not an opponent of tests in general.
')
Undoubtedly, tests give us quite an effective tool that can (and, of course, should) be used in the educational process, including for the final assessment of knowledge. Moreover, I can say a lot in defense of tests. But in this case, this is not the purpose of this note. I want to draw attention to the devastating consequences for our education that can occur if the tests become the main, and even more so the only tool for assessing the knowledge of schoolchildren, especially when decisions important for schoolchildren or teachers are made on the basis of this assessment: graduation , enrollment in an educational institution, etc.
But first a general remark. I believe that today, contrary to popular belief, the most inconvenient time for carrying out decisive reforms in the field of education. And they, reforms, are now planned a lot, and almost all of them are global. Here and twelve years of training, and standards, and testing, and alternative training, and God knows what else.
Such an abundance of reforms in the field of education at a time can not afford any very rich country, which we are not. But our education (of the Soviet period) was far from being the worst in the world, and mathematical education was admittedly even the best in the world.
In addition, for any reform, for any significant system restructuring, even according to the best plans and schemes, there is a significant deterioration in the quality of the tunable system in the beginning. There are serious internal contradictions, overcoming of which requires significant material and moral costs.
Today, the main goal in education, in my opinion, is its development, and in some places restoration based on traditional approaches.
Specifically about testing
Inadequacy of the test score
One of the advantages of testing, according to the general opinion, is the objectivity of the assessment obtained, its independence from the person who conducts the testing. But, unfortunately, this assessment, if we are going to use it as an assessment of a student’s knowledge, contains a systematic error. And we are talking about the ideal, not existing in nature, like an ideal gas, testing. The fact is that there are quite numerous categories of students who, due to certain mental characteristics, do not correspond well to the test method and receive understated marks (respectively, there are those whose test scores are overestimated). This includes, first of all, frequent “in Russia” (and, by the way, among scholars) “stupid thoughts”, as well as so-called “testfobs”, who have a panicky fear of the testing procedure itself. According to experts (see, for example, E. B. Fedorov’s dissertation work), no more than 50% of students (in Russia) fall into the “area of ​​adequacy” of test technologies. It seems that in the USA this percentage is much higher.
It is possible that one of the reasons here is the long-term use of tests for a variety of purposes.
Habits and skills developed. But the main reason, I believe, is that the tests correspond well to the national character, the American mentality (and, consequently, the constant and long-term use of tests). But if so, then the test method can lose its neutrality and political apathy and become a tool for remaking the national mentality (by the way, some of the reformers publicly stated this goal).
Maybe this is the undeclared goal of reforms in our education?
The main question of mathematical education in Russia has always been the question: “Why?” - while for American education such was the question: “How?”. And it is precisely this question that we answer when testing.
Substitution of learning objectives
The assertion that the goal of studying a subject, of individual topics is to obtain solid knowledge and skills in the framework of the relevant program, is both commonplace and even tautology. But still this is true, like almost every commonplace statement.
The school has various tools to determine how well this goal has been achieved by students. And only by acting with all these tools in the complex, we can properly manage the learning process. Here the instrument with the help of which final control, various types of student selection is carried out is especially important. A real school, whether we want it or not (they say that we do not want it), always replaces the learning goal: it is precisely the final control that becomes it.
In the transition to universal testing very quickly, the main goal for the teacher will be to prepare for the test. The relevant methods, which already exist, will not keep us waiting, allowing students not to study the subject to prepare students for the test.
A single test for admission to universities will lead to the complete destruction of mathematics in high school, and then in the universities themselves.
Narrowing the content of the subject
There are subjects whose content is poorly covered by the test system. And within the subject itself, some sections and skills are easily verified through testing, while others are difficult.
It is well known that the “most tested” of mathematical skills are arithmetic - the ability to perform four actions of arithmetic. On these topics a lot of tests have been compiled and are being compiled, among which there are quite decent ones. But there are almost no tests that test the ability to reason, to think logically. Outside the capabilities of the test technology is almost all geometry. It is clear that the widespread introduction of tests will simply force out some very important sections of elementary mathematics from school curricula. By the way, this is exactly what happened in the USA. Geometry practically disappeared from school programs there, and in mathematics lessons they are not taught to argue.
International research data
In the framework of one international program (TIMSS), a comparative survey of mathematics lessons was conducted in 8th grade of three countries: USA, Germany and Japan. Mathematical reasoning was met: in Japan, in 53% of the lessons reviewed, in Germany - in 20%, in the USA - in 0%. Geometry has been studied in the USA in just 2 years. By the way, I note that the lag in the program in the United States compared with Japan and Germany for children aged 13–15 is 2 years. I will also add to this point that tests drive into the pupils' heads an erroneous and even harmful syllogism, both for mathematical development and “in life”: the right answer is the right decision.
Alienation of professionals
One of the biggest dangers associated with the use of test technologies is the exclusion of highly qualified specialists from the educational process. It happens in stages. Initially, there is no need for them at the verification stage. With the help of tests, the authorities got the opportunity to realize their long-held dream: to conduct an exam in mathematics without the participation of mathematicians.
"You give us the tests, give the answers, and then we'll figure it out ourselves." It is clear that the coolest specialists will not (and did not, as the international, and even a small Russian experience show) take part in this profanation (it’s funny that in our country the mathematics and mathematical tests that are issued on behalf of the state of and experts specifically for the tests). At the next stage, the authorities themselves, having seen quite primitive tests, begin to interfere in the process of compiling the tests themselves. This, according to Jerry Becker, occurred in California, where in recent years a real mathematical test war has unfolded. So, one of the tests proposed by mathematicians was rejected by the commission under the governor of the state. In particular, mathematical errors (?) Were found in it. For example, the authors of the test to the question: “Is a piece of 36x45 divided by 30?” Gave an affirmative answer. According to the members of the commission, this answer is incorrect, since none of the factors is divided by 30!
Teacher downgrading
The use of ready-made tests greatly facilitates the work of the teacher. In principle, this is good. The teacher is freed from part of the routine work, free time appears, etc. But at the same time other problems arise and, in particular, the problem of maintaining (not to mention improving) the level of professional (subject) qualifications. Verification of test tasks and examinations takes place automatically and does not give any professional workload. The learning space covered by the tests, as already mentioned, is only part of the academic subject (here we are talking about mathematics). And if the teacher does not use special and additional funds for his professional development, simply for “keeping fit,” he will almost inevitably begin to degrade.
Moreover, the training system, which focuses exclusively on the use of test technologies, not only does not need well-mathematically trained teachers, but simply rejects them.
I will not say anything bad about teacher training in Russia (although, in the opinion of many specialists, the level of their training has significantly decreased recently), but I will give examples showing the level of training of teachers in the United States.
In 1999, the Liping Ma book was published in the United States, which compares the mathematical preparation of teachers in China and the United States. Here is one of the studies.
Two groups were selected — in China and the United States — of elementary school teachers who were asked the same questions. At the same time, according to the formal characteristics, teachers from the USA had higher qualifications - everyone had a higher education, and some had a master's degree, while Chinese teachers had education at the level of a pedagogical technical school (in our understanding). According to the author, teachers from China showed a completely normal level of mathematics, and I will not speak about them. Teachers from the United States showed a complete lack of mathematical literacy. For example, less than 50% were able to correctly perform the action: (1 3/4) :( 1/2).
Over 90% considered it true that with an increase in the perimeter of a figure (in particular, a rectangle) its area increases. Only one was able to build a counterexample. According to the testimony of George Malati (Finland), less than 1% of US math teachers were able to explain that a right-angled triangle with 8-inch hypotenuse and 5-inch hypotenuse does not exist (the issue of determining the area of ​​such a triangle was one important test for several years while no one, including the compilers of the test, for a long time did not pay attention to the fact that such a triangle is impossible).
Tests, market, corruption
Tests are the most marketable of all existing training technologies, and possibly the only truly market technology. Even the creation of high-quality tests can be put on stream, although this still requires good professionals and the process of creating them is not so cheap, and therefore beneficial. But the fact of the matter is that market relations are very quickly pushing competent professionals from the process of creating mass tests, or rather, they are simply not allowed to do this. All variety of tests is reduced to one, the most primitive variety - tests with a choice of the answer. As a result, the market is filled with frank hack, and the consumer gets used to consuming this hack.
Testing in the United States has long been a very profitable business. There are companies with serious capital and considerable income, specializing in the production of tests. It seems that this is already the case with us. Compete with this business in the field of education in terms of profitability can only be computer technologies, but for completely different reasons (I will not delve into this topic). But, unfortunately, computerization and tests are not competitors at all, but rather allies. Of all the educational technologies, tests are most suited to computer implementation.
Computerization and "testing" form a very aggressive fusion that can not only absorb most of the funds spent on education (we have), but also get into the taxpayers' pockets (paid testing, trading in tests, programs, etc.). And there, where big money and low qualifications create the conditions for corruption, corruption cannot arise.
And not about Russia only with its pathological propensity for corruption in question. The United States is no exception. Recently, a number of large scandals have erupted in the United States related to the large number of mistakes made during the final testing of schoolchildren. This is stated, in particular, in publications in the New York Times on September 15 and 17, 1999 and the Washington Post on September 20, 1999. The essence of the scandals is that many schoolchildren due to poorly chosen tests and incorrect the methods used in processing the test results received low marks and were sent to summer schools or even left for the second year. (There should be schoolchildren who received overestimated grades, but this is not mentioned in the mentioned notes.) The number of such schoolchildren in New York is, in the opinion of most experts, in the range from 2,000 to 3,000 (this is about the year 1999) .
Some experts call significantly larger numbers. The testing company demanded $ 3.3 million for its services from the city authorities of New York in 1999. In 1998, she received $ 2 million.
According to experts, similar phenomena occurred in other states, but there the interested companies managed to hide it. The authorities in New York also believe that serious mistakes were made during the final testing before, but not made public.
In my opinion, these examples clearly show signs of corruption in the US education system.
In the “Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary” it is written that “corruption is a crime consisting in the direct use by an official of the rights associated with his position for the purpose of personal enrichment”. And since the “Democratic (or Capitalist) Dictionary” has not yet come out, I will proceed from this definition.
According to Western experts, Russian society today is unusually corrupt and takes one of the last places in the world in terms of this indicator. (It seems that only Nigeria is behind.) However, we ourselves see it: for the sake of personal enrichment, almost all working Russians use their service opportunities. True, not all of these features are available.
But for some reason, Western experts are taking beyond the bounds of corruption the activities of an official who officially receives a very large monetary reward and conceals various violations on the part of the company in which he works. Such corruption, and this, in my opinion, is one of the varieties of corruption, quite often occurs in the so-called civilized countries, the list of which we always start with the United States, and is especially dangerous in education and medicine. And it is in these areas that it is most common. On the Internet on November 8, 1999, an article by Jonathan Fox appeared. Her name is (literally) - "Toasting our young people." (Grilling means toasting, as well as interrogation with addiction). After the headline follows: “The industry preparing for the SAT test begins in kindergarten. A small form with circles is a lot of money. ”(SAT tests are used to assess the knowledge of school graduates when entering universities).
Judging by the article, preparing for passing the tests and passing the tests in America is a business that our tutors and admissions boards of universities cannot even dream of. (It seems that the total annual income of test companies reaches several billion dollars.) However, people who take a part in this business have nothing to do with mathematics (most of the article is devoted to tests in mathematics) that do not have. The article mentions, for example, a certain Kaplan, who invested $ 25 million in creating a test system for third grade schoolchildren. These tests, of course, for a fee will soon be available on the Internet.
Conclusion
The conclusion is obvious: the introduction of testing as the main tool for the final assessment of schoolchildren’s knowledge, selection for admission to various educational institutions, the creation of specialized centers (companies) for the production of tests that receive official support, will dramatically deteriorate the quality of our education, create favorable conditions for the development of new and dangerous types of corruption. Tests are also dangerous with seeming simplicity of manufacture and ability to “reproduce” quickly. Having started to multiply, they quickly form a malignant tumor in the formation, in mathematical terms, first of all, with a fatal outcome that is inevitable and quick to form.
To be fair, it should be noted that tests are not so dangerous as the market mechanisms with which they are trying to manage education today. Under their influence, any system of testing and selection quickly slips onto the border of applicability: testing is reduced to the most primitive form with the choice of the answer to idiotic questions from the same idiotic set of options, and the traditional exam is made up of cumbersome and mathematically tasteless tasks, pass it without special costly training is impossible.
PS
All examples belong to the American education system, since it is the United States that is the world leader in the use of test technologies in education, and our test apologists invariably cite it as a model to be emulated. Studying the American periodicals of the last half year (including the beginning of 2000), it can be concluded that a real anti-test campaign has unfolded in America today. (The article in the Los Angeles Times, January 18, 2000, is entitled "Testing destroys learning.")
We, on the contrary, suddenly became enamored with an extraordinary love for all kinds of tests. It seems that American test companies, losing the market at home, want to enter the markets of other countries.
From the above examples, it can also be seen that the problems of education, and even specifically of mathematical education, are of great concern to American society and are widely discussed on the pages of the most authoritative publications. And here we can only envy American educators and scientists.
Member of the Executive Committee of the International Commission for Mathematical Education (EC ICMI)
Sharygin Igor Fedorovich
Words A. A. Fursenko
At the meeting of the Ministry of Education and Science on the results of the unified state exam in 2008 and plans for its organization in 2009, the head of department Andrei Fursenko said that the Unified State Exam in Russia had taken root: “The Unified State Exam is the best tool for assessing students' knowledge. There is no going back. The USE will be implemented in the form in which it was spelled out in the law. ”
My words
In my opinion, Sharygin provided weighty arguments to doubt the usefulness of the USE and our Ministry of Education. I already wrote that I think about Russian education here , so I will not repeat. Thanks for attention.
And what do you think about the exam?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/45776/
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