I don’t know about you, but I am sick of the test score obsession. I think our schools need to have a prolonged testing moratorium so we can figure out what education should be about and how to reduce our dependence on testing.
But since that has not happened yet, we are compelled to look at the rise and fall of test scores. .
When Tennessee’s scores went up on NAEP last year, Arne Duncan speedily pointed to Tennesssee as a shining star of Race to the Top, and the state even got a shout out from the President in his State of the Union.
Now the state scores are in, and there won’t be any boasting. If there is, it is simply spin.
Gary Rubinstein reports that Tennessee’s state scores were flat. they were up a wee bit in math, grades 3-8, and down a bit in reading, same grades. The biggest drops were in third grade, the kids most exposed to reform magic, where the reformers should be showing big gains.
Don’t expect to hear anything about Tennessee’s state scores from Arne Duncan or the President.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Very sad… scores are flat and the kids were test prepped to death so they would show gains… not a lot of authentic learning in TN this past year.
Good point. When scores are flat even with an obsessive focus on test scores, the reforms are having a more negative impact than even these graphs show.
Tennessee is horse country……Unfortunately, Arne and the President think that all horses should be thoroughbreds because that’s what the billionaires want. So, since they want ALL horses to be the same fast thoroughbreds that can win money and fame, they put ALL horses through the same training that they think will make them run fast and win races. Arne and the President are too ignorant to recognize that some horses are gifted in ways other than winning races of speed. Some are better suited as cutting horses, some are more suited to pull large beer wagons, others are gifted as jumpers and hunters, while others have predisposition to many diverse careers. They are not happy horses when their natural gifts and talents are disregarded, and they are ALL made to conform to being a thoroughbred.
Actually, KY is horse country, not TN, but everything else you said is on point.
Actually my hometown in TN breeds the best thoroughbreds in the country 🙂
At lease we agree on the distorted thinking of Arne Duncan & the President!
The real reason the NAEP scores jumped so high in TN last year was because of a law that was passed the year before in TN prohibiting non-proficient 3rd graders from being promoted to 4th grade. No more social promotion for 3rd graders if they couldn’t pass the standardized tests. So, for the first time ever in TN last year, the failing kids were kept behind in 3rd grade. Only “proficient” 4th graders took the NAEP. Voila! When you eliminate the low scoring students, your state average magically improves and you become “the fastest improving state in the nation”.
Here is a link to the laws:
http://www.tnparents.com/our-voicesblog/bingo-why-the-tn-naep-scores-improved
The magic won’t happen the next time NAEP rolls around in 2015. By then, they’ll have new data to cherry-pick and feed gullible politicians.
Thanks. That never occured to me with the third grade retention policy they all adopted lock-step, all over the country.
Was there a similar policy in place for 7th graders, or was the rise in Tennessee’s 8th grade NAEP scores just dumb luck?
These guys aren’t even successful in their reductionistic framework of education. But as others have pointed out, the end game is no public accountability, just phony “choices” in a “market” to benefit Eva and company.
And after so many years of Value-Added Modeling in Tennessee—
Where’s the “value-added”?
😒
HIdden in the oversized bun.
or is that “buns”. (double entendre meant)
Exactly – their charters are not working miracles, but still they insist public schools should be underfunded, teachers and necessary nurses, librarians, aides should be fired, shitty curriculums should be instituted to the test, and charters should be the 100% norm because that is how they get their fingers into the tax payer$ pie.
You know, reform wouldn’t be so bad if it actually promoted certified, qualified, quality, in-it-for-the-long-haul teachers, and didn’t come with an end game of privatization. All those billions, wasted on bullshit nonsense could have gone to fixing the buildings and assisting the kids, instead of being gamed into the pockets of turds.
Gary Rubinstein is spot on! I’ll be curious to see how KHuff spins this one.
Thanks for giving us a mention Diane! Right on with Tn and TCAPP and TVASS.
Ed reformers can’t keep trumpeting test scores while claiming ed reform doesn’t rest completely on tests.
Yes, it does. Every single time Duncan comes out and uses tests scores to justify his preferred policies they are less credible with their denials that this isn’t about test scores.
Read any local news account of public schools. It is crammed full of test scores. You would have to be an absolute idiot to think this isn’t about tests scores, and ignore everything you see, read and hear and instead just listen to ed reformers denials.
I will be attending a conference at the end of the month. One of the speakers will be Candice McQueen from Lipscomb University in TN. I can’t wait to see if this topic comes up.
Diane
I love your blog..but too much in my email..had to unsubscribe…too much work keeping my emails managed..will see you on fb and google you…keep up the great debate, the great news feed and the great teaching!
How did Tennessee get the test results? CA is told that Smarter Balanced is keeping test scores secret! Does anyone know how to get the CA test scores?