‘Dip, dip, sky blue, who's it? NOT YOU’: children's experiences of standardised testing: a socio-cultural analysis

Abstract

The recent decision by the Department of Education and Science in the Republic of Ireland to introduce the mandatory testing of children in Irish primary schools provides the broad context for this paper. This decision has particular implications for schools designated as disadvantaged. The main focus of this study is on identifying the strategies used by these children in completing standardised tests. The sample comprises 51, mixed gender, 6^th class children from contrasting ideal type socio–economic urban communities. The findings reveal a considerable level of difficulty on the part of some children in designated disadvantaged schools, with most aspects of the test format and much of the testing process. A number of socio-linguistic and socio-cultural factors are identified that affect children's attainment levels on these tests. Failure to take account of these issues will continue to present an overly crude picture of national attainment patterns and serve only to contribute to the stigmatisation and ghettoisation of children living in marginalised and disadvantaged communities. The paper argues for a broader discussion of the use standardised testing that will take account of the well-established patterns of socio-economic inequality.

Keywords:

• standardised testing
• socio-economic inequality
• class bias
• test item response strategies
• attainment
• child perspective

Notes

1. The Micra-T is a group administered standardised reading test. The test contains five passages, all of a cloze procedure format. The tests were re-developed for the school year 2003–04 and are considered by the test developers to contain material suitable for different ability groups. The version of the test used in this study, was standardised on a nationally representative sample of more than 10,000 Irish pupils during the 2002–03 school year.

2. The Drumcondra Primary Reading Test (DPRT) is a group administered, standardised test of silent reading used in the Republic of Ireland. The test assesses two aspects of reading: reading vocabulary and reading comprehension. The vocabulary sub-test only was examined and explored as part of this study. This sub-test consists of 40 questions each containing a target word embedded in a short sentence and four distractors. The pupil must determine which of the four distractors is closest in meaning to the target word. The edition used in schools i.e. the 1996 edition was used in this study.