Testing refusal rates in your district

[ilovefh]

....I don't know but I certainly agree about all the BS paperwork that we must submit.....that's half the problem. This year, more than ever, I feel like a statistician...

It's funny you say that. Last year I told our assistant principal that I could either be a great data collector or a great teacher, but they had to pick one. When I only have 2 50 minute planning periods per week and you expect that I will track down test scores for all of my students (132) for all baseline and monitoring tests they take in every subject so I can "have a picture of the whole child" and then compile all of this data and all of their demographics in a spreadsheet, well something has to give. Not to mention the progress monitoring plan that I have to fill out for each child who scored a 1 or a 2 the year before, which is all of my kids because I teach the lower level kids. Then I need to meet with the parents about the plan. And oh yeah, I forgot, the site for the plans is only accessible at school so no doing that at home.

And yes, it is a problem with the way our school was run. We used to have a spreadsheet that all teachers could access. This made it possible to have one place for all teachers to put their scores rather than everyone do their own. This way the demographics for each kid was already entered and each teacher was responsible for entering their monitoring scores.

 

[zoemurr]

They are also required to pass 1 foreign language Regents exam too

They got rid of that 3 years ago. My kids now take a test that is written in our county by our teachers for language. This saved the state $700,000. Can you believe the amount of $$ that is spent on these things?

To the PP, I am so sorry about this useless data collection. I don't think most people have any idea how much teachers are expected to do. Thank you.
I have no doubt that the teachers in my child's building can figure out the "whole child" by their own assessments.

 

[Kbee]

They got rid of that 3 years ago. My kids now take a test that is written in our county by our teachers for language. This saved the state $700,000. Can you believe the amount of $$ that is spent on these things?

To the PP, I am so sorry about this useless data collection. I don't think most people have any idea how much teachers are expected to do. Thank you.
I have no doubt that the teachers in my child's building can figure out the "whole child" by their own assessments.

You know what you are right, I was looking up stuff for my dd but she's getting the advanced regents, its a requirement for that one, not a regular regents diploma, my mistake.

My ds took the Spanish regents exam last year at the end of 8th, I guess they just have them take it in case they want to go for the advanced regents? My dd dropped her foreign language after 9th and I can't remember if she took a regents exam that year, I know she did in 8th.

 

[zoemurr]

You know what you are right, I was looking up stuff for my dd but she's getting the advanced regents, its a requirement for that one, not a regular regents diploma, my mistake.

My ds took the Spanish regents exam last year at the end of 8th, I guess they just have them take it in case they want to go for the advanced regents? My dd dropped her foreign language after 9th and I can't remember if she took a regents exam that year, I know she did in 8th.

Your kids (or school) might still be calling them Regents, because they fulfill the same purpose, but the tests are no longer written by them. Each district or county writes their own. DD said there is one after Spanish 1 and one after Spanish 3. My kids will both have the advanced, but my son won't be able to get the "mastery in math" because he is in the new group for all of the tests. Last year he took Algebra 1 and recieved an 82. This was the first year of the CC test and his teacher wasn't confident about what would be on it. His sister who is not as strong of a student had the same teacher and scored a 94 a few years earlier. He will be in the first group for the roll out of Geometry and Alg 2 as well, so I assume the same low scores will happen. Couldn't they have introduced this so they didn't hit the same kids 3 years in a row?

 

[Kbee]

Your kids (or school) might still be calling them Regents, because they fulfill the same purpose, but the tests are no longer written by them. Each district or county writes their own. DD said there is one after Spanish 1 and one after Spanish 3. My kids will both have the advanced, but my son won't be able to get the "mastery in math" because he is in the new group for all of the tests. Last year he took Algebra 1 and recieved an 82. This was the first year of the CC test and his teacher wasn't confident about what would be on it. His sister who is not as strong of a student had the same teacher and scored a 94 a few years earlier. He will be in the first group for the roll out of Geometry and Alg 2 as well, so I assume the same low scores will happen. Couldn't they have introduced this so they didn't hit the same kids 3 years in a row?

He wasn't able to take it again, or can you only do that if you fail it? He was so close to that 85, it really stinks if he can't re-try. Can he take a 4th year of math?
I'm looking through the 2015-16 course catalog and they are referring to the foreign language exam as a "Regents". You would think they would have clarified that.

ETA reading further, they did clarify it. I don't know who edited this course book but it is horrible!

 

[zoemurr]

He wasn't able to take it again, or can you only do that if you fail it? He was so close to that 85, it really stinks if he can't re-try. Can he take a 4th year of math?
I'm looking through the 2015-16 course catalog and they are referring to the foreign language exam as a "Regents". You would think they would have clarified that.

ETA reading further, they did clarify it. I don't know who edited this course book but it is horrible!

If he pulls off the Geometry one then he will take Alg 1 again after Alg 2. (You can take it again at any time.) If Geo goes the same way then there is really no use. This year he is mandated to take the CC version and the old version (poor kid) so if he gets an 85 on either it will count. He had the option last year but only signed up to take one. (He is such a strong student I didn't thin it would be a problem.) It affected a ton of kids, so I imagine colleges will be aware.

DD is taking 6 years of math, and he is on the same track. If he does well in Calc 3 I can't imagine his Regents grades will hold him back.

 

[Kbee]

If he pulls off the Geometry one then he will take Alg 1 again after Alg 2. (You can take it again at any time.) If Geo goes the same way then there is really no use. This year he is mandated to take the CC version and the old version (poor kid) so if he gets an 85 on either it will count. He had the option last year but only signed up to take one. (He is such a strong student I didn't thin it would be a problem.) It affected a ton of kids, so I imagine colleges will be aware.

DD is taking 6 years of math, and he is on the same track. If he does well in Calc 3 I can't imagine his Regents grades will hold him back.

Good Luck to both of them!

 

[Tinijocaro]

Cuomo publicly states that these tests don't count toward anything for the kids-they don't matter.

http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/...ds/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Cuomo said he believes they haven’t done a good job of publicizing the fact that the tests, for at least the next five years, won’t count at all for the students.
“They can opt out if they want to, but on the other hand if the child takes the test, it’s practice and the score doesn’t count.”

Then why are kids being placed in Academic Intervention Services classes if they don't count? Cuomo says kids can opt out, Arne Duncan says he is going to bring in the Feds to make kids take the tests. Hmmm...I wonder which one it is?

And I'm going to be evaluated on tests that don't matter to the kids? Do you think kids are going to try hard if they get wind of the fact that these tests don't matter? Cuomo is just digging himself a huge hole. I don't think he has a way out.

 

[undertheradar]

These opt outs are hilarious. Washington state, where the tests are required for graduation, is having numerous opt outs. The tests are not used for teacher evaluations, yet the opt outs are being pushed by the teachers. Odd how a field as progressive as education, can have such a push back from the unionized educators who have an obvious fear of being regulated. Yes, it is time for a national set of graduation requirements, as well as basic skills required to advance in schools.

Business people should run schools, educators should teach.

 

[ilovefh]

These opt outs are hilarious. Washington state, where the tests are required for graduation, is having numerous opt outs. The tests are not used for teacher evaluations, yet the opt outs are being pushed by the teachers. Odd how a field as progressive as education, can have such a push back from the unionized educators who have an obvious fear of being regulated. Yes, it is time for a national set of graduation requirements, as well as basic skills required to advance in schools.

Business people should run schools, educators should teach.

I'm not trying to start an argument but this is the funniest post I have ever read! Anyone that states that business people should run schools has no idea what goes into educating a student.

 

[kimmar067]

Business people should run schools, educators should teach.

....why do you say that?

 

[IDoDis]

These opt outs are hilarious. Washington state, where the tests are required for graduation, is having numerous opt outs. The tests are not used for teacher evaluations, yet the opt outs are being pushed by the teachers. Odd how a field as progressive as education, can have such a push back from the unionized educators who have an obvious fear of being regulated. Yes, it is time for a national set of graduation requirements, as well as basic skills required to advance in schools.

Business people should run schools, educators should teach.

I don't know why you feel the need to bash teachers. You are able to read and respond to these messages because of the teachers you had. It's really sad. Why don't you go teach for a year, accepting whoever walks in your door and then get back to us in a year. It's easy to talk the talk, but not to walk the walk.

 

[bekkiz]

These opt outs are hilarious. Washington state, where the tests are required for graduation, is having numerous opt outs. The tests are not used for teacher evaluations, yet the opt outs are being pushed by the teachers. Odd how a field as progressive as education, can have such a push back from the unionized educators who have an obvious fear of being regulated. Yes, it is time for a national set of graduation requirements, as well as basic skills required to advance in schools.

Business people should run schools, educators should teach.

Yes, the same business people who are making millions of dollars on these poorly written and researched tests perhaps? Or the same business people who misnamed a three hour test, causing hundreds of children to have to retake a second test? Or the ones who failed to have the test translated into all of the languages they promised to, so many of Washington's newer residents were unable to take the test?

I know I have posted this before, and I will post it again because clearly the point has been missed. The best and most reliable test for if a child will be successful in and graduate from college is not test scores (state, SAT, ACT or AP). It is GPA. The teachers who who spend day in and day out with that child are the best evaluator of how successful that child will be. Their standardized test scores only predict how well they will do on their next standardized test.

Here's the whole study from last year that looked at about 123,000 college students and found high GPAs paired with lower test scores did better in college when compared to kids with high test scores and low GPA
http://www.nacacnet.org/research/research-data/nacac-research/Documents/DefiningPromise.pdf

 

[Ceila]

These opt outs are hilarious. Washington state, where the tests are required for graduation, is having numerous opt outs. The tests are not used for teacher evaluations, yet the opt outs are being pushed by the teachers. Odd how a field as progressive as education, can have such a push back from the unionized educators who have an obvious fear of being regulated. Yes, it is time for a national set of graduation requirements, as well as basic skills required to advance in schools.

Business people should run schools, educators should teach.

With nothing new to add to the discussion, and only a re-stating of comments you made before, I can only assume that you are bored and looking for an argument.

 

[kimmar067]

I don't know why you feel the need to bash teachers. You are able to read and respond to these messages because of the teachers you had. It's really sad. Why don't you go teach for a year, accepting whoever walks in your door and then get back to us in a year. It's easy to talk the talk, but not to walk the walk.

....a-MEN....

 

[jodifla]

After 3 weeks of testing the 8th graders now it is the 7th graders turn. Whole school schedule thrown out of whack until June the teachers tell me one day last week they spent the first 3 hours in 6th period then went to 1st, 2nd and 3rd. All that upheaval is a lousy way to learn. Friends in surrounding districts say it is the same hot mess there.

 

[zoemurr]

http://www.upworthy.com/a-new-kind-of-kindergarten-design-encourages-kids-to-be-their-silly-selves Check out this K program.. if you have time watch the video. These kids are adorable. I totally agree about needing some small dangers, to learn about life and to help each other.

 

[undertheradar]

I don't know why you feel the need to bash teachers. You are able to read and respond to these messages because of the teachers you had. It's really sad. Why don't you go teach for a year, accepting whoever walks in your door and then get back to us in a year. It's easy to talk the talk, but not to walk the walk.

Too funny, my Mom taught me how to read!

 

[undertheradar]

With nothing new to add to the discussion, and only a re-stating of comments you made before, I can only assume that you are bored and looking for an argument.

I guess that info regarding Washington state must have somehow slipped through what you read, .

 

[undertheradar]

Yes, the same business people who are making millions of dollars on these poorly written and researched tests perhaps? Or the same business people who misnamed a three hour test, causing hundreds of children to have to retake a second test? Or the ones who failed to have the test translated into all of the languages they promised to, so many of Washington's newer residents were unable to take the test?

I know I have posted this before, and I will post it again because clearly the point has been missed. The best and most reliable test for if a child will be successful in and graduate from college is not test scores (state, SAT, ACT or AP). It is GPA. The teachers who who spend day in and day out with that child are the best evaluator of how successful that child will be. Their standardized test scores only predict how well they will do on their next standardized test.

Here's the whole study from last year that looked at about 123,000 college students and found high GPAs paired with lower test scores did better in college when compared to kids with high test scores and low GPA
http://www.nacacnet.org/research/research-data/nacac-research/Documents/DefiningPromise.pdf

The problem with GPA is that there is no national standard for how it is applied. Different school districts weigh AP or Honors classes with varying values. The politics within some school districts over Valedictorians and who took the hardest courses, has resulted in some districts starting to no longer provide class ranking.

Teachers and educators should teach. Business people should run and operate the schools. Central supply offices should be used for all purchasing. Contract food services should be used to perform meal functions and contract transportation services should be used for all district transportation services. Odd how numerous corporations centralize these services, yet schools haven't accepted the practice.