Testing refusal rates in your district

[bekkiz]

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.
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Either you are being obtuse on purpose or your reading comprehension needs work. The point was, GPA is a better predictor of college success because it is harder to cheat. Teachers can grade based on effort, knowledge, work ethic and growth. Standardized tests grade only the bubble. That's why many colleges are allowing students to apply without looking at their standardized test scores. High GPA, no matter where the student went to school, generally means a better quality student--which is what we should all be looking for.

 

[sam_gordon]

Either you are being obtuse on purpose or your reading comprehension needs work. The point was, GPA is a better predictor of college success because it is harder to cheat. Teachers can grade based on effort, knowledge, work ethic and growth. Standardized tests grade only the bubble. That's why many colleges are allowing students to apply without looking at their standardized test scores. High GPA, no matter where the student went to school, generally means a better quality student--which is what we should all be looking for.

I'll agree standardized tests may not be a good indication for college preparedness. However, I don't think that should be the goal/target of these standardized tests. IMO, I think the tests CAN be used to evaluate teachers, CAN be used to find where students are deficient, and CAN be used to keep all students "on track" throughout the country. However, all those things need to be done properly. It sounds like some schools/districts/states AREN'T using the tests efficiently, but that doesn't mean the tests are bad.

 

[nugov2]

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.

That is lousy. Hopefully your district will get a clue because that is the most ridiculous scheduling and that isn't the fault of the test.

 

[Ceila]

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

Nope.

 

[Tinijocaro]

"But the big money may be in serving the state’s 4,530 public schools (there are roughly 1,700 private schools). It found an effective way to sell books: Create the tests and everybody will want your texts."

Pearson is actually so bold as to put test questions that come directly from their textbooks on the state tests. So your students are at an advantage on the state tests if your district purchases Pearson textbooks. Bold move on Pearson's part.

Read more: http://libn.com/2015/04/23/uncommon-costs/#ixzz3YbBMzm8Y

“Essentially, they’re a monopoly,” White said. “They make the tests, the test prep materials, the remedial materials you need if you fail the test. If more kids fail the test, you can convince the school to buy more remedial materials.”

How nice.

Read more: http://libn.com/2015/04/23/uncommon-costs/#ixzz3YbCxlMK4

Don't tell me that "companies have aways made money on tests. Duh. This is making money on the texts, test prep, tests (designed to fail kids), remediation for those kids who can't pass the tests, teacher training tests, GED. They've taken over education. Why does our country trust ALL of our education to one company. Why not make it competitive? Why not have companies competing for our business?

 

[sam_gordon]

“Essentially, they’re a monopoly,” White said. “They make the tests, the test prep materials, the remedial materials you need if you fail the test. If more kids fail the test, you can convince the school to buy more remedial materials.”

I've got a question. The above argument above is insinuating that Pearson will make more money if kids fail the test since those kids then need to get the remedial materials, right? But if Student A fails and gets the remedial materials, but Student B passes and gets the next set, aren't they both buying the same amount of things? Or does Student A need the remedial AND the next level?

 

[ilovefh]

I've got a question. The above argument above is insinuating that Pearson will make more money if kids fail the test since those kids then need to get the remedial materials, right? But if Student A fails and gets the remedial materials, but Student B passes and gets the next set, aren't they both buying the same amount of things? Or does Student A need the remedial AND the next level?

Yes, student A would need both. Say student A is a 7th grader and fails the test. Now he needs the remedial 7th grade material but will also need the 8th grade material. Student B just needs 8th grade.

 

[Tinijocaro]

I've got a question. The above argument above is insinuating that Pearson will make more money if kids fail the test since those kids then need to get the remedial materials, right? But if Student A fails and gets the remedial materials, but Student B passes and gets the next set, aren't they both buying the same amount of things? Or does Student A need the remedial AND the next level?

The student will move on to the next grade level of testing whether they passed or not. Plus they will get the remediation materials.

 

[Tinijocaro]

http://dianeravitch.net/2015/04/29/...dently-verified-for-validity-and-reliability/

A reader, Charlene Williams, who holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, sent the following comment in response to this post about the vocabularyused on one of the Common Core tests:



This speaks to one of the essential issues in the current high stakes testing debacle. Why the Pearson, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced testing is unscientific and unethical. I am a psychologist, faculty at UCLA, and a mother in California. I hadn’t heard about these concerns with the current high stakes testing, until after I became very concerned with the developmental level of the SB practice items when helping my daughter (dutifully prepare for the tests).
The 6th grade ELA practice performance task for the Smarter Balance was completely inappropriate for 11-12 year olds, requiring them to toggle between several screens (on small Ipad screens), and choose multiple pieces of evidence to evaluate, select, paraphrase, compare and contrast, as well as write a multiparagraph essay. Never mind that while practicing, toggling back to the articles caused the students’ written work on the essay to be erased (lost).


Why the current high stakes testing is unscientific:
1) There is no proven Construct Validity (does your test measure what you think it measures)

2) Cut scores are determined by an unknown (arbitrary) process- labeling children as proficient, or failing appears to not be based on any scientific process. It is not scientific to arbitrarily decide what levels of your test scores actually mean in the real world. Scientific measurement requires cross-validation with external measures that provide evidence for your claims (like grades, or independent in-depth measures of children’s educational achievement in a a smaller sample with highly experienced evaluators).

3) Computer adaptive tests- there have been many concerns raised about how item difficulty has been decided. Children continue to progress on these tests if they continue to get a certain number the most recent answers correct. Educational measurement specialists (true academically trained professionals) and parents and children have observed that very often items following very difficult questions are significantly easier. This raises concerns that children’s scores are artificially deflated by unscientifically determined item difficulty determinations.

4) Inter-rater reliability- No checks exist to independently determine whether the scoring administered by these testing companies has truly reliable and valid measurements of children’s answers (see Todd Farleyhttp://www.bkconnection.com/static/Making_the_Grades_EXCERPT.pdf )


Most importantly, the Pearson, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced testing is unscientific because they violate the basic rule of science. The assessments are not verifiable, because they are not permitted to be subject to independent scientific evaluation. Their validity cannot be proven nor disproven. Under the guise of “test security” companies use copyright laws so extreme they prevent true scientific evaluation of the validity of these tests, by scientists with expertise in the fields of Education, Psychology, and related fields.
So I am deeply concerned that the profit-driven testing business is using unscientific (and expensive) testing which is portrayed to the public as if it’s truth, with high stakes ramifications on children, teachers, and our public education system. As stakeholders and parents, we need to demand accountability, real science, and an ethical separation between profit-driven educational businesses and the true scientifically-based education and measurement. For the sake of our children, our teachers, and our educational system which is truly one of the foundations of our democratic country.

 

[kimmar067]

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.

....there's no mystique to it - TEACHING IS NOT, AND NEVER SHOULD BE, A BUSINESS.


....BTW, you never addressed my last query: how do you propose businesses 'run and operate' schools? What does that mean, exactly?

 

[jodifla]

We spoke earlier of who was able to take alternative assessments. Looks like states vary widely in their interpretation. Florida in particular is very strict:

Palm Beach County, FL: "The decision that a student will participate in the statewide alternate assessment is made by the IEP team and must meet the following criteria. (Y or N answers) Does the student have a significant cognitive disability? Is the student unable to master the grade level general state content standards even with appropriate and allowable instructional accommodation, assistive technology and/or accessible instructional materials? Is the student participating in a curriculum based on State Standards Access Points for all acedemic areas where applicable? Does the student require extensive direct instruction in academics based on access points in order to acquire, generalized, and transfer skills accross settings? If the IEP team determines that YES to ALL FOUR QUESTIONS accurately characterizes a student's current educational situation, then the Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA) MUST be used to provide a meaningful evaluation of the student's current academic achievement. If YES is not checked in all four areas, then the student MUST participate in the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) with or without accommodations. The ENNOBLES Act provides for the waiver of the FSA requirement for graduation with a standard diploma for certain students with disabilities who have met all other requirements for graduation with a standard diploma, except for a passing score on the FSA."

 

[IDoDis]

Alaska may let private corporations track students throughout their lives in the workplace.

A looming question is -- What does a LOAN corporation (ACPE/ASL) which is not even a state dept. or div. have to do with the linking of ALaska DEED K-12 data with AK Dept. of Labor Workforce Data? Everyone asks who are the 3rd parties receiving the data... ACPE/ASL ***is*** a 3rd party. They are not a state entity. They are a private lending corporation; a bank, essentially.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We live in FL and the FSA testing is a mess. It is taking over 2 months total and messing up the schedule of the entire school. My 3rd grader is done with it for the year thankfully, but if seems like learning went off a cliff after the test was done (in MARCH!!). This testing has messed with our school bigtime this year. I just can't see this continuing. Something has to give. If it's still going on when my Kindergardener hits the testing grades, we'll have to consider pulling her out and putting her in private. I can't see doing this to her, at least as she is now.

ETA - There is a big Opt Out movement here, but I'm not really sure how many opted out percentage-wise. I don't think it was as impressive as the Opt Out movement in NY.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

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.

Just from reading this post I knew you were in FL...before I saw your user name lol. This is our school too...what a mess for everyone, but especially for the youngest kids who thrive on the scheduling consistency.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Testing is not teaching. Testing is not teaching. Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[kimmar067]

....STILL waiting for a reply to my [above] post......

 

[sam_gordon]

Testing is not teaching. Testing is not teaching. Lather, rinse, repeat.

No more tests then. I wish that was the case when I went to school.

I hope at least some of you "anti-testing" crowd have realized there are GOOD (or at least "non-bad") ways to implement CC and testing. That not every state/school/teacher is putting high stakes on the kids. In fact, my 3rd grader's teacher sent a letter home Friday (testing starts tomorrow). The letter is addressed to the students and told them all the ways the testing DOESN'T measure them and doesn't take away from how special or unique they are. They should try to do their best, but realize it is just one test.

FWIW, our elementary classes all take the test this coming week (regardless of grade level). The only difference that I know of is the higher grades have more days of testing. Sounds much better than a grade at a time taking up 4-6 weeks, doesn't it? And I'm pretty sure our school is NOT using computers for the test.

I suggest you find states/districts/schools that ARE doing things "right" and highlight those to TPTB in your area.

 

[hereyago]

Alaska may let private corporations track students throughout their lives in the workplace.

A looming question is -- What does a LOAN corporation (ACPE/ASL) which is not even a state dept. or div. have to do with the linking of ALaska DEED K-12 data with AK Dept. of Labor Workforce Data? Everyone asks who are the 3rd parties receiving the data... ACPE/ASL ***is*** a 3rd party. They are not a state entity. They are a private lending corporation; a bank, essentially.

That is some creeper type stuff.

 

[Heidi K]

No more tests then. I wish that was the case when I went to school.

I hope at least some of you "anti-testing" crowd have realized there are GOOD (or at least "non-bad") ways to implement CC and testing. That not every state/school/teacher is putting high stakes on the kids. In fact, my 3rd grader's teacher sent a letter home Friday (testing starts tomorrow). The letter is addressed to the students and told them all the ways the testing DOESN'T measure them and doesn't take away from how special or unique they are. They should try to do their best, but realize it is just one test.

FWIW, our elementary classes all take the test this coming week (regardless of grade level). The only difference that I know of is the higher grades have more days of testing. Sounds much better than a grade at a time taking up 4-6 weeks, doesn't it? And I'm pretty sure our school is NOT using computers for the test.

I suggest you find states/districts/schools that ARE doing things "right" and highlight those to TPTB in your area.

I've never been part of this "anti-testing crowd" until New York began botching things so badly. I was one of those people who kind of liked taking the SATs and GREs. I certainly believe there is a place for standardized testing.

Here in New York, however, flawed, secret tests have been rushed to development based on hurriedly written, unproven standards. These tests were then given multiple functions, far more than any single test should be asked to do: they supposedly assess students' strengths and weaknesses, provide districts with a "snapshot" view of their school, inform curriculum development and decisions, help disadvantaged students, punish failing schools, rate principals, fire failing teachers, place all teachers on an evaluation scale of ineffective/developing/effective/highly effective, and more. Then our governor stated that the scores on these tests are "meaningless" for students and should be viewed as "practice"--that's a scary mindset to place students in considering the high-stakes nature of the tests. In addition, it has been publicly pre-determined that a certain percentage of students WILL score below grade level and a certain percentage of teachers & schools WILL be labeled ineffective. These percentages are being set before the test is even administered!

Pearson closely guards the content of the tests, to the extent that 8-year-olds are required to sign confidentiality agreements, but multiple reports indicated that the NY tests contained many components that were several grade levels above the tested grade. A high percentage of students was unable to finish the timed tests. Then recently, when teachers were trained to score the tests, they reported that the "anchor papers" that were supposed to be written by students in the field testing stage did not contain high-scoring, student-written examples at the 5th grade level (possibly at other levels as well; this is the first report I've heard). The high scoring examples were written by the adults at Pearson, apparently because NO actual 5th grade child in the field test was able to successfully accomplish the assigned task.

I'm less familiar with other states, but my experience with the Opt-out movement in NYS is that the vast majority of participants are concerned parents who want their children to receive a rich and varied education. They are not anti-test. They allow and encourage their children to take the Regents exams and SATs, and those who have older children were fine with them taking the 4th and 8th grade assessments that had been in place for many years. They are, however, extremely worried about the use of our children as political pawns in the war on public education that has been declared by the governor and his rich backers.

 

[erin1715]

I've never been part of this "anti-testing crowd" until New York began botching things so badly. I was one of those people who kind of liked taking the SATs and GREs. I certainly believe there is a place for standardized testing.

Here in New York, however, flawed, secret tests have been rushed to development based on hurriedly written, unproven standards. These tests were then given multiple functions, far more than any single test should be asked to do: they supposedly assess students' strengths and weaknesses, provide districts with a "snapshot" view of their school, inform curriculum development and decisions, help disadvantaged students, punish failing schools, rate principals, fire failing teachers, place all teachers on an evaluation scale of ineffective/developing/effective/highly effective, and more. Then our governor stated that the scores on these tests are "meaningless" for students and should be viewed as "practice"--that's a scary mindset to place students in considering the high-stakes nature of the tests. In addition, it has been publicly pre-determined that a certain percentage of students WILL score below grade level and a certain percentage of teachers & schools WILL be labeled ineffective. These percentages are being set before the test is even administered!

Pearson closely guards the content of the tests, to the extent that 8-year-olds are required to sign confidentiality agreements, but multiple reports indicated that the NY tests contained many components that were several grade levels above the tested grade. A high percentage of students was unable to finish the timed tests. Then recently, when teachers were trained to score the tests, they reported that the "anchor papers" that were supposed to be written by students in the field testing stage did not contain high-scoring, student-written examples at the 5th grade level (possibly at other levels as well; this is the first report I've heard). The high scoring examples were written by the adults at Pearson, apparently because NO actual 5th grade child in the field test was able to successfully accomplish the assigned task.

I'm less familiar with other states, but my experience with the Opt-out movement in NYS is that the vast majority of participants are concerned parents who want their children to receive a rich and varied education. They are not anti-test. They allow and encourage their children to take the Regents exams and SATs, and those who have older children were fine with them taking the 4th and 8th grade assessments that had been in place for many years. They are, however, extremely worried about the use of our children as political pawns in the war on public education that has been declared by the governor and his rich backers.

Yes, a thousand times, yes!