It is critical that we take a moment to review the emerging evidence on the impact of timed testing and the ways in which it transforms children’s brains, leading to an inevitable path of math anxiety and low math achievement. (Boaler, Jo)

Her name was Mrs. Hughes.  I can still hear her:

F … F … J … J … F … F … J … J.

Time, accuracy, speed, and precision were ultimately important in the typing class I took my sophomore year of high school.  I am glad that I touch-type.  At typingtest.com, you can assess your typing speed and accuracy.  Here are my latest results:

And, later in the day…

There are plenty of people that do not touch type, some hunt-and-peck.  Is their work some how diminished because they may need more time than a touch typist?  If not witnessing the time and effort, would the reader of the product even know whether the author was speedy or not?

Are accuracy and precision when typing more important than speed and time?  Wouldn’t it be better to take more time and have an accurate product than to be quick with errors?

This has me thinking about assessment, testing, and time.  In a perfect world, we want both speed and accuracy.  What if we can’t have both?  What if a learner needs more time to demonstrate what they know?  Do we really expect all children to perform and produce at the same speed?  Are we sacrificing accuracy and precision for the sake of time?  Should it be the other way around? Are we assessing what our learners know and can show or how fast they can think and work?

How important is it to complete an assessment
within a fixed, pre-determined period of time?

How might we offer learners more time to demonstrate what they know and have learned?

Time is the variable; learning is the constant.

Time, accuracy, speed, & precision was first posted on April 30, 2012

Boaler, Jo. “Timed Tests and the Development of Math Anxiety.” Web log post. Jo Boaler. N.p., 06 July 2012. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.