Who is refusing Common Core tests for 3rd-8th graders?

[nugov2]

As opposed to all your great evidence in support of PARCC and CCSS?

I already know the tests are garbage if they only score you get is 1, 2, 3, 4 and the results come months later.

SAT and ACT scores are just numbers and the results come months later. Standardized test should not have the high stakes attached to them that some states have decided to implement, but they are not garbage either. They have a place if done properly. We have no idea if PARCC is garbage, but I do know some states and districts implementation of the test is garbage. I don't think PARCC is perfect, but until we have taken the test once it is hard to tell what would need to be changed.

There is no evidence of CCSS or PARCC because they are both so new, but your arguments have no evidence or support either. I have never, not once seen you post something that directly relates to CCSS or PARCC only to poor implementation. Again, this would be seen in every school in every district in every state if it related to the standards or the test, but it isn't. No matter how many blog articles you post...it isn't going on in many places, I'd even say in the majority of places b/c almost all of your "evidence" comes from the same states.

 

[taylor1293]

It seems though by Florida's info that those students who truly cannot read the passage would qualify for the alternate assessment.

I guess that depends on how you define "read" . Almost half of our fourth graders read below level (as low as kindergarten). We have a high percentage of ESE and ELL students. Many of these students will likely have great difficulty comprehending sections of the test. None of them qualify for alternative assessment.

 

[ilovefh]

Nope, I changed my mind. Call me a neanderthal or what have you. I'm not going to debate this.

I'm not asking you to change your mind, but rather for your opinion on how situations like this should be handled.

In some instances I agree with you though. There were times I looked at my non ESE students who tested at a 3rd grade math level in 8th grade and wondered how we let that happen.

 

[ilovefh]

I guess that depends on how you define "read" . Almost half of our fourth graders read below level (as low as kindergarten). We have a high percentage of ESE and ELL students. Many of these students will likely have great difficulty comprehending sections of the test. None of them qualify for alternative assessment.

Agree with this. We had a very large population of ELL students and they were handed native language-English dictionaries for the reading passages. They also got extended time but I only ever knew of 1 student that used any extended time. Most just filled in the boxes. Imagine the time it would take to translate a whole reading passage.

 

[nugov2]

I guess that depends on how you define "read" . Almost half of our fourth graders read below level (as low as kindergarten). We have a high percentage of ESE and ELL students. Many of these students will likely have great difficulty comprehending sections of the test. None of them qualify for alternative assessment.

The Florida page says that students in the country for less than 12 months are exempt, all other students are required to get accommodations as stated on their IEP or 504 plan. I find it hard to believe a 4th grader reading at a K level wouldn't meet the requirements for the alternate testing. That is a significant gap. A grade or two below I can see them having to read the passage on their own with a reader to assist with the question and then a reader on the math, but K that doesn't make sense, but Florida seems to be a hot mess when it comes to education.

 

[taylor1293]

The Florida page says that students in the country for less than 12 months are exempt, all other students are required to get accommodations as stated on their IEP or 504 plan. I find it hard to believe a 4th grader reading at a K level wouldn't meet the requirements for the alternate testing. That is a significant gap. A grade or two below I can see them having to read the passage on their own with a reader to assist with the question and then a reader on the math, but K that doesn't make sense, but Florida seems to be a hot mess when it comes to education.

It's heartbreaking isn't it? Think of how that student must feel when presented with text they can't begin to comprehend. Also, please remember that just because students are below level readers that doesn't mean they receive an accommodation...many do not.

And you are correct about the 12 month ELL rule. We do have an ELL student who fits within that exemption but the rest will count. Also, ELL students only receive extended time, they are not permitted to have questions read to them. That is an ESE accommodation.

As for Florida's state of education....I have little positive to say right now. We have some great schools and great teachers but our education system is a hot mess. (I say this last part as a parent!)

 

[taylor1293]

Agree with this. We had a very large population of ELL students and they were handed native language-English dictionaries for the reading passages. They also got extended time but I only ever knew of 1 student that used any extended time. Most just filled in the boxes. Imagine the time it would take to translate a whole reading passage.

Those dictionaries are such a joke!

 

[nugov2]

It's heartbreaking isn't it? Think of how that student must feel when presented with text they can't begin to comprehend. Also, please remember that just because students are below level readers that doesn't mean they receive an accommodation...many do not.

And you are correct about the 12 month ELL rule. We do have an ELL student who fits within that exemption but the rest will count. Also, ELL students only receive extended time, they are not permitted to have questions read to them. That is an ESE accommodation.

As for Florida's state of education....I have little positive to say right now. We have some great schools and great teachers but our education system is a hot mess. (I say this last part as a parent!)

Why is it that they would have no accommodations? I ask because when I taught our students who were reading that far below grade level most certainly would have had accommodations. Obviously every state differs(here the test would have been read, passage and all). I just can't wrap my head around some of the decisions made by certain states.

 

[jodifla]

Here are qualifications for the alternate assessment from RI and not some blog:

The three eligibility criteria that students must meet in order to be eligible for the NCSC and RIAA Science are:

1. Student has a disability, or disabilities, that significantly impacts cognitive function and adaptive behavior. Review of student records and other evidence indicate a disability or multiple disabilities that significantly impact intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior essential for someone to live independently and to function safely in daily life.

2. The student’s instruction aligned to the Common Core State Standards uses adapted grade level content that focuses on essential knowledge and skills. Instruction in science is aligned to the science AAGSEs. Goals and instruction for this student is linked to the enrolled grade-level CCSSs and address knowledge and skills that are appropriate and challenging for this student. a) RIAA Science: For students in grades 4, 8, or 11 instruction and curriculum should be aligned to the Alternate Assessment Grade Span Expectations (AAGSEs) for Science.

3. The student is unable to apply academic skills in home, school, and community without intensive, frequent, and individualized instruction in multiple settings. This covers the three aspects of learning: a) What the student needs in order to learn. In other words, the student requires extensive, repeated, individualized instruction and supports from teachers and other professionals. b) The types of materials required in order for the student to learn. Materials are significantly modified, customized, and adapted in order to facilitate understanding. c) How the student demonstrates their learning. His or her need for substantial supports to achieve gains in the grade-and-age-appropriate curriculum requires substantially adapted materials and customized methods of accessing information in alternative ways to acquire, maintain, generalize, demonstrate, and transfer skills across multiple settings.

http://www.ride.ri.gov/Portals/0/Up...dance_for_IEP_Teams-RIAA_and_NCSC_2014-15.pdf


I don't feel like reading the whole 24 page document as it doesn't pertain to me, but it certainly seems that they have a decent plan in place in RI(and I'd imagine other states do as well, but more proof that if their are states denying accommodations that is their decision) on how to determine if a child is eligible for the alternate test. You can read through it and decide what is wrong with it Jodi, but honestly I do think you need to look to other places besides extremest blogs for your info, because then you would have known that the accommodations are actually very good for the PARCC.

But they can only pick 1 percent. That's not going to be remotely enough. The New Hampshire government ( not some blog) website I posted shows how severe this disabilities have to be.
http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/assessment/alt_assess/rule_summary.htm

Here's a great summary on who will qualify for the 1 percent alternative test. It's for a very small group -- 10 percent of the whole special ed population was one estimate I saw.


characteristics of students appropriately served in the NH Alternate Assessment?

The following characteristics occur in combination - not in isolation:

• Limited Communication: The student may be considered non-verbal or may have very limited expressive vocabulary and language skills. The student may use simple language structures to communicate and seldom acquires new communication skills through incidental learning; and
• • Very Low Levels of Academic Achievement: Performance in the subject matters of reading, writing, and mathematics is significantly below that of same age peers (e.g., performance-level expectations must be modified to a reduced or simpler level of performance from the curriculum standards set for general education or "typical" New Hampshire students). When typical general education peers are reading paragraphs and answering questions, the Alternate Assessment student might be matching objects, pictures, or symbols, and when typical peers are writing and solving equations, the Alternate Assessment student might be using objects, symbol systems, or pictures to show more basic connections;and
  • • Highly Specialized Instruction: The student generally requires systematic instruction with tasks broken into small steps. In addition, the student needs deliberate instruction to apply learned skills across multiple settings (e.g., school, home, work, and other settings); and
  • Ample Supports: The student requires individualized instructional, technological, or interpersonal supports to make progress in learning. The student requires accommodations to demonstrate proficiency of even the modified (linked to but below grade level) performance expectation levels described above, such as modeling and repeated demonstration, physical hand-over-hand guidance, specially designed prompting procedures, and alternate or augmented communication systems.

 

[jodifla]

SAT and ACT scores are just numbers and the results come months later. Standardized test should not have the high stakes attached to them that some states have decided to implement, but they are not garbage either. They have a place if done properly. We have no idea if PARCC is garbage, but I do know some states and districts implementation of the test is garbage. I don't think PARCC is perfect, but until we have taken the test once it is hard to tell what would need to be changed.

There is no evidence of CCSS or PARCC because they are both so new, but your arguments have no evidence or support either. I have never, not once seen you post something that directly relates to CCSS or PARCC only to poor implementation. Again, this would be seen in every school in every district in every state if it related to the standards or the test, but it isn't. No matter how many blog articles you post...it isn't going on in many places, I'd even say in the majority of places b/c almost all of your "evidence" comes from the same states.

Half the states have dropped PARCC like a hot potato. If it's so great, why have the dropped it?

 

[nugov2]

But they can only pick 1 percent. That's not going to be remotely enough. The New Hampshire government ( not some blog) website I posted shows how severe this disabilities have to be.
http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/assessment/alt_assess/rule_summary.htm

Here's a great summary on who will qualify for the 1 percent alternative test. It's for a very small group -- 10 percent of the whole special ed population was one estimate I saw.


characteristics of students appropriately served in the NH Alternate Assessment?

The following characteristics occur in combination - not in isolation:

• Limited Communication: The student may be considered non-verbal or may have very limited expressive vocabulary and language skills. The student may use simple language structures to communicate and seldom acquires new communication skills through incidental learning; and
• • Very Low Levels of Academic Achievement: Performance in the subject matters of reading, writing, and mathematics is significantly below that of same age peers (e.g., performance-level expectations must be modified to a reduced or simpler level of performance from the curriculum standards set for general education or "typical" New Hampshire students). When typical general education peers are reading paragraphs and answering questions, the Alternate Assessment student might be matching objects, pictures, or symbols, and when typical peers are writing and solving equations, the Alternate Assessment student might be using objects, symbol systems, or pictures to show more basic connections;and
  • • Highly Specialized Instruction: The student generally requires systematic instruction with tasks broken into small steps. In addition, the student needs deliberate instruction to apply learned skills across multiple settings (e.g., school, home, work, and other settings); and
  • Ample Supports: The student requires individualized instructional, technological, or interpersonal supports to make progress in learning. The student requires accommodations to demonstrate proficiency of even the modified (linked to but below grade level) performance expectation levels described above, such as modeling and repeated demonstration, physical hand-over-hand guidance, specially designed prompting procedures, and alternate or augmented communication systems.

You already posted the characteristics didn't you??? You really need to learn more about education and the policies if you are going to post a bunch of stuff you truly don't understand. The 1% rule with 2% interim has been around since NCLB and doesn't work the way you are listing it to. I'm not going to get into all the details, but you really need to do better research.

 

[jodifla]

You already posted the characteristics didn't you??? You really need to learn more about education and the policies if you are going to post a bunch of stuff you truly don't understand. The 1% rule with 2% interim has been around since NCLB and doesn't work the way you are listing it to. I'm not going to get into all the details, but you really need to do better research.

Department of Education Proposes to Eliminate "2 Percent Rule" in Assessing Students with Disabilities
August 23, 2013
Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov

The U.S. Department of Education has proposed regulations, published today, to transition away from the so-called "2 percent rule," thus emphasizing the Department’s commitment to holding all students to high standards that better prepare them for college and career. Under the existing regulations, States have been allowed to develop alternate assessments aligned to modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAAS) for some students with disabilities and use the results of those assessments for accountability purposes under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In making accountability determinations, States currently may count as proficient scores for up to 2 percent of students in the grades assessed using the alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards.

 

[jodifla]

http://blog.hmleague.org/arne-duncan-wants-special-education-students-to-take-general-exams/

The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, plans to submit public comments in opposition to the proposal, according to the group’s policy analyst John Riley. “We’ve always opposed these arbitrary percentage caps when it comes to assessing students with disabilities,” Riley said. “Who makes up this 1 percent, this 2 percent number?” Schools should make these determinations on their own, he said.

For the NEA, the question comes down to aspiration versus reality. “We’re talking about students with disabilities who have documented life-impacting issues, that if they could do everything else the other students were doing, they’d be doing that,” Riley said. “We have to take an individualized look at how we’re assessing them … Some students don’t fall on the normal bell curve.”

 

[nugov2]

Department of Education Proposes to Eliminate "2 Percent Rule" in Assessing Students with Disabilities
August 23, 2013
Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov
The U.S. Department of Education has proposed regulations, published today, to transition away from the so-called "2 percent rule," thus emphasizing the Department’s commitment to holding all students to high standards that better prepare them for college and career. Under the existing regulations, States have been allowed to develop alternate assessments aligned to modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAAS) for some students with disabilities and use the results of those assessments for accountability purposes under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In making accountability determinations, States currently may count as proficient scores for up to 2 percent of students in the grades assessed using the alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards.

What does that have to do with anything. I was referencing how long the 1% rule has been around lol
oh and you don't have to enlarge and bold all of your posts. I think most of us see just fine and it doesn't make any of your information convincing or alarming, the two things I think you are trying to convey.

 

[taylor1293]

Why is it that they would have no accommodations? I ask because when I taught our students who were reading that far below grade level most certainly would have had accommodations. Obviously every state differs(here the test would have been read, passage and all). I just can't wrap my head around some of the decisions made by certain states.

Sorry if I wasn't clear in my last post! If you are referring to my lowest reader, that child IS staffed and has accommodations, but must take the same test the other students take. When I said "below level readers", I was speaking in general. Simply being a below level reader doesn't make you eligible for accommodations or even eligible to be tested to see if you qualify to be staffed.

I can't wrap my head around what goes on most of the time either .

 

[jodifla]

What does that have to do with anything. I was referencing how long the 1% rule has been around lol
oh and you don't have to enlarge and bold all of your posts. I think most of us see just fine and it doesn't make any of your information convincing or alarming, the two things I think you are trying to convey.

Actually it's enlarged when I copy it over and I didn't take the time to unbold it and make it smaller.

Arne Duncan is really swinging his weight around with denying children the ability to take alternative assessments. He's forcing states to get rid of their alternative assessments, and forcing them to play a cruel game of who to save from inappropriate testing by slashing the number to 1 percent when it has been 2 percent.

In his mind, he's doing those kids a favor. Surely they'd all pass the test if only there were allowed to take it. But the other teachers on this thread are telling you what I am, so not sure when you can't grasp it. It's probably coming soon to your state, in fact, as the rules are national.

 

[undertheradar]

Actually it's enlarged when I copy it over and I didn't take the time to unbold it and make it smaller.

Arne Duncan is really swinging his weight around with denying children the ability to take alternative assessments. He's forcing states to get rid of their alternative assessments, and forcing them to play a cruel game of who to save from inappropriate testing by slashing the number to 1 percent when it has been 2 percent.

In his mind, he's doing those kids a favor. Surely they'd all pass the test if only there were allowed to take it. But the other teachers on this thread are telling you what I am, so not sure when you can't grasp it. It's probably coming soon to your state, in fact, as the rules are national.

Funny that you chose Vermont, another large sample state, don't you think?

 

[Dawnlight]

Framingham, MA teachers speak out against PARCC

http://patch.com/massachusetts/framingham/framingham-teachers-association-do-not-adopt-parcc-0

 

[kamik86]

One question... for those that have special education IEP students that don't qualify for the special assessment... wouldn't the obvious solution be for their parents to opt them out? Why wouldn't they just do this?

Now for those that are only reading a year or two below grade level (we had a number of those in high school) I think they probably should take the test. I mean I don't think the point of any test is to only give it to the students that your sure will pass it. I have a niece who is dyslexic so her reading level is a bit below grade level, she would still take the test though. She would probably pass most of it too, especially if she could have extra time (don't know if she does get that though) because she does read just slower. My mom is the same way.

 

[jodifla]

One question... for those that have special education IEP students that don't qualify for the special assessment... wouldn't the obvious solution be for their parents to opt them out? Why wouldn't they just do this?

Now for those that are only reading a year or two below grade level (we had a number of those in high school) I think they probably should take the test. I mean I don't think the point of any test is to only give it to the students that your sure will pass it. I have a niece who is dyslexic so her reading level is a bit below grade level, she would still take the test though. She would probably pass most of it too, especially if she could have extra time (don't know if she does get that though) because she does read just slower. My mom is the same way.

Some states just aren't allowing opt outs. It seems to depend on how your state constitution is written. Even if you hold your child out on testing days, they just test them they return to school.

Also this is so new many parents and students won't realize until it is through how inappropriate the test might be for their child.

And in the 14 states that have a strong alternative assessment like Michigan (which can use their testing for one more year) it hasn't become an issue yet. But it's looming for all of us.