The question of how we are preparing our children for the future is one that always concerns school board members and school administrators. At the Board of Education's last work session, we heard from representatives from the Council for Aid to Education group. Our district had used an assessment called the College to Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA) to assess our high school students at two different points in time in order to see how they were progressing in certain skill areas throughout high school. We have all heard about the exorbitant amount of testing that the state requires, but this is different. The College to Work Readiness Assessment analyzes our students differently and measures readiness for the future. It is an unique assessment because it measures two of the areas that employers look for most when hiring new employees, critical thinking and problem solving skills.
This assessment was implemented last year and we are proud to say that Warwick is the only public school in New York state who takes part in this testing initiative. Up until last year, the CWRA assessment was only administered by private institutions. By scoring the freshman students and then scoring them again in two years as juniors, we can see how they are progressing and identify weaknesses in their learning. From this test, we can deduce how we are doing as a district, and what we need to focus our curriculum on in order to have more of our students be proficient in the future.
Having students take part in this type of testing is challenging on two fronts. First, it requires 90 minutes of the student's time, and staff is also needed to proctor the test. This is difficult because, due to class scheduling, the test can only be given in the morning. Secondly, because this test is unique, it requires a pivotal shift in thinking from parents and family. Our old way of thinking is to measure facts, just to replicate them on a multiple choice test and get a numerical or letter score. This test measures problem solving and critical thinking skills, which is a different way of measuring our students abilities for the future. It's important for us to understand that we are preparing our youth for jobs and industries that do not even exist yet. Memorizing facts will not help them. They need to learn how to think and think differently in order to succeed. Currently, we are looking into the possibility of offering alternative testing times for students and thinking about how we can illustrate to parents the importance of this type of exam for our students.
In a state run test driven environment, some may question why we are using yet another test. The fact is, this is the best measure of what we are doing here in Warwick. Numerous high caliber universities value this test and more colleges are being added to the list each day. We are trying to be ahead of the curve and this is definitely giving our students an advantage over students who reside in other districts.
The Global Search for Education. If not the SAT, what? is a great article featuring questions and answers about this assessment. Information for students can be found in The Student Guide to the CWRA
Submitted by Keith Parsons
