S.T. Writing– Just What Are They Looking For?

It sounds as though the MEAP test is getting increasingly challenging each year. According to a report in the Detroit News, the writing scores on the MEAP have dropped between the ’05 and ’06 testing sessions. In addition to this drop, writing scores were already much lower than scores on the math and reading tests. The question as to why the writing scores are increasingly poor cause us to wonder what teachers and students are doing wrong.

“Of all the things we teach, I believe writing is the most complex,” said Paula Wood, dean of the College of Education at Wayne State University. “Writing requires students to process what they’ve learned and formulate it in their own words, a difficult task for some students.”

Teachers may be having a difficult time organizing how to teach young individuals how to write, but I believe organization and structure may be the best way to prepare an individual for the test (after all, students do earn money from passing the MEAP!) The writing section of the MEAP includes an array of emphases:

“On the writing portion of the MEAP, students answer multiple-choice questions and provide their own writing samples. They are graded on spelling, punctuation and grammar, and for how well they maintain and support themes.”

Seemingly, teaching writing can be much more difficult that teaching any other subject. It doesn’t simply include a delivery of information to the student. The student must learn how to organize his thoughts in a constructive manner, and then transfer those thoughts onto a piece of paper while simultaneously learning to perfect grammatical and syntactical basics. Anne Gere, an English professor at U-M, touches also on the subject of students being unable to create an essay which shows any originality.

“‘If you’re going to teach writing well you have to teach writing often,’ said Gere, the U-M professor.
Gere said students are flooding college classrooms, including U-M, ill prepared to make but the simplest five-paragraph argument in print. ‘If you ask them to do any more than that, they are stumped,’ she said. ‘And these are the best and brightest in the state.’”

I was taught that when taking a standardized writing test, the most important aspects included form, grammar and syntax. Now, I read about Gere complaints which are based on the fact that students are failing to show originality on these tests, and she encourages them to break away from the standard five-paragraph essay. It is difficult to standardize writing tests, and it seems as though the rules are constantly changing. It seems as though students are taking chances whenever they take a standardized writing test. Some graders use rubrics, while others read more casually searching for originality. Students sure have to have it all today!

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Placement Based on Standardized Performances and Race

According to a study reported in the Detroit News Washington Bureau, nearly 18 percent of seniors had taken (at least) one AP exam in 2006. However, the number of African American students which comprised this percentage is mere 4.5 percent. The issues concerning why the African American population comprises such a small amount of the AP test taking population relate to the tracking issue discussed in Linda Christensen’s publication concerning Untracking English.

Christensen discusses the achievement gap found between lower-class students and higher-class students. Tracking is supposed to create a “legitimate hierarchy” determining the intelligence between students in schools and “placing” them in the proper classes. It seems, however, that tracking is the opposite of the idea which No Child Left Behind has. So should we be sticking with the tracking system, or should we be trying to untrack schools? A large consideration surrounding the answer to this issue revolves around the confidence issues each option creates for students. The positives surrounding tracking include access for students to participate in college preparatory and AP classes, therefore creating a feeling of pride and success because these students feel they have “earned” their place.

“As my student Ellie said when I discussed untracking with her tracked class, ‘We couldn’t learn if those students were in our class’” (Christensen 173).

The negatives include the confidence issues surrounding students who do no qualify for these classes (often based on race, class, and gender) ultimately causing these students to lose interest and confidence in academic situations.

“But I wonder what other messages students learn when they see majority white or wealthy students in advanced classes. Do they believe that those students are smarter then students of color or poor and working-class students? …we unwittingly allow student to walk away with these and who know what other assumptions” (Christensen 171).

By untracking the education system, would we have to say goodbye to advanced courses so that nobody’s feelings get hurt? After all, “providing such courses is expensive, including special training for teachers, and already the state’s fiscal crisis could lead to cuts in public school education” (DNWB). Has NCLB improved the percentage of minority students taking and passing AP tests? In the statistics provided by the Detroit News Washington Bureau, African American’s made up 3.8 percent of AP test takers in 2000, whereas in 2006 the percentage grew to 4.6 percent. It might just be my cynical personality coming out here, but those numbers aren’t very impressive based on a 6 year stretch of time. It looks like plenty children are still being left behind, but I guess I’ll give it another 6 years. It won’t be easy, but the education system needs to make some changes concerning the tracking system. We need to begin untracking or try developing a system that makes tracking fairer for unprivileged students. Suggestions have been made concerning methods of motivating (in particular) African American students:

“Florida and Texas have trained more African Americans to teach AP courses, which in turn attracts more African American students into AP classes.”

If we continue to find ways to encourage students to identify with their instructors, it might help with the confidence issue which tracking creates among many students. We might be able to find a way to motivate the students, but in some communities, that is not good enough. Many Michigan schools don’t offer AP classes, which is why parents need to start getting involved.

“Professor Percy Bates, an education professor at University of Michigan who focuses on ending race and gender disparities, said African American students aren’t as likely to have AP classes at their schools and often suffer from low expectations. He says African American parents need to demand that the high schools their children attend offer AP classes. ‘If I had to pinpoint the primary reason, it would be that many of these students are simply not encouraged to take AP classes,’ Bates said.”

Everything in the education system is based on something which is standardized. Standardized tests put standardized students into standardized classes, ultimately shaping them into masses of standard people. I’m not saying that placement classes should be eliminated, but why do the rules for taking these classes always have to be so strict? A student who has had bad grades or a bad reputation in the past should not be denied the opportunity to take an AP class. Nothing will shoot down a student’s motivation more than inequality and discrimination based on reputation or social standing. Advanced placement classes are an asset to the education system, but nobody should be refused from or forced to take them.

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Extra Sources

Christensen, Linda. Reading, Writing, and Rising Up. Untracking English: Creating Quality Education For All Students. Rethinking Schools Ltd. 2000.