CAT-5 Testing (and a WASL rant)

J had a fun day today, sitting for the CAT-5 standardized test. “Mom, it was so boorrringgg.” Ah well, such is life when you’re 13. You may be wondering why I had her take this test, seeing as how she already took the dreaded WASL at the PPP. I had her take the CAT because the WASL is probably the worst possible measurement of actual academic skill knowledge that there is. Not only that, but WASL scores don’t even begin to come back until around October 1st. What is the point of having kids take a test that their current teachers can’t even USE? It makes no sense.

The WASL is graded very subjectively. If they write a sentence and their period isn’t perfect, it can be graded as a comma, thereby causing them to have their writing marked down. Every year WASL scores and scoring methods come under fire, for good reason. It is a flawed test, it is a flawed system, and simply cannot be used to measure a student’s knowledge. The CAT, on the other hand, is a fill in the bubble test. There is no questioning how a student answered, because the bubble is either filled in or it isn’t. They either answered correctly, or they didn’t. The fuzzy logic behind the WASL is that if a student gets a question incorrect BUT CAN DEMONSTRATE HOW THEY GOT THAT ANSWER, it is scored as correct. Colleges don’t grade that way. Employers don’t rate that way. Neither should we.

One boring day, answering questions and filling in bubbles, to tell me exactly how J is doing against a national scope of students is worth it for me. And no, I don’t care about grades, just learning. I want to know that she knows what she knows. And I want her to understand it too. She survived.