Indiana Istep
Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress
This week’s discussion question comes at a good time. Just this week the students in school in Indiana started taking their ISTEP test which stands for Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress. This is an assessment tool to gauge just how well the students are doing in English and Math and correlates it to their scores to see if the schools are keeping up with expectations of the State of Indiana, but it is not the school that suffers when the student does not make the grade, it is the student. The student must meet a certain score in order to graduate from high school.
Limitations
A limitation of this assessment is that is does not go to the source, which is sub-standard teaching. It targets the student and penalizes them with extra classes called remedial classes usually taken during the summer. Also another limitation is that this assessment cannot rule out those with learning disabilities and thus holds the student back instead of placing them in the proper class that will help them succeed because the learning disability is unknown.
One of the strengths of this test is that it is standardized, meaning that all the students that take it take the same assessment. So the grading is standardized also.
ACA Code Violations
E.6.c. “Culturally Diverse Populations Counselors are cautious when selecting assessments for culturally diverse populations to avoid the use of instruments that lack appropriate psychometric properties for the client” (ACA, 2005).
AMCD Code Violations
B. Knowledge
2. “Culturally skilled counselors understand how race, culture, ethnicity, and so forth may affect personality formation, vocational choices, manifestation of psychological disorders, help seeking behavior, and the appropriateness or inappropriateness of counseling approaches” (AMCD, 1996).
Conclusion
I picked the two violations based on personal opinion from what I have seen that schools in
This week’s discussion question comes at a good time. Just this week the students in school in Indiana started taking their ISTEP test which stands for Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress. This is an assessment tool to gauge just how well the students are doing in English and Math and correlates it to their scores to see if the schools are keeping up with expectations of the State of Indiana, but it is not the school that suffers when the student does not make the grade, it is the student. The student must meet a certain score in order to graduate from high school.
Limitations
A limitation of this assessment is that is does not go to the source, which is sub-standard teaching. It targets the student and penalizes them with extra classes called remedial classes usually taken during the summer. Also another limitation is that this assessment cannot rule out those with learning disabilities and thus holds the student back instead of placing them in the proper class that will help them succeed because the learning disability is unknown.
One of the strengths of this test is that it is standardized, meaning that all the students that take it take the same assessment. So the grading is standardized also.
ACA Code Violations
E.6.c. “Culturally Diverse Populations Counselors are cautious when selecting assessments for culturally diverse populations to avoid the use of instruments that lack appropriate psychometric properties for the client” (ACA, 2005).
AMCD Code Violations
B. Knowledge
2. “Culturally skilled counselors understand how race, culture, ethnicity, and so forth may affect personality formation, vocational choices, manifestation of psychological disorders, help seeking behavior, and the appropriateness or inappropriateness of counseling approaches” (AMCD, 1996).
Conclusion
I picked the two violations based on personal opinion from what I have seen that schools in
References: Retrieved from http://www.counseling.org/Resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf on May 1, 2013 Retrieved from http://www.counseling.org/resources/competencies/multcultural_competencies.pdf on May 1, 2013