Media Advisory: BBA to Hold Press Call on Real vs. Claimed Achievement Trends among DCPS Students
Washington, DC | Jul 8, 2014
On Thursday, July 10 at 11:00 am ET, the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education (BBA) will hold a press call to discuss a new BBA memorandum that assesses achievement trends of District of Columbia Public (DCPS) students. Elaine Weiss, national coordinator of the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, will provide an in-depth analysis of DCPS/OSSE claims that the percentage of students who are “proficient” and “advanced” by the standards of the DC Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS), the district’s standardized achievement test, has steadily grown. Using both publicly available and non-available DC-CAS data, as well as data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Weiss will show that the true pattern over recent years has been one of little actual progress and substantially widening achievement gaps. Weiss will also highlight important data to look for when DCPS releases the new student scores, and provide key questions to ask. This memo builds on last year’s Market-Oriented Reforms’ Rhetoric Trumps Reality, and will be followed by a full report after 2014 DC-CAS scores are released later this month.
For the past several years, the Office of the State Superintendent for the District of Columbia (OSSE), has released new numbers on the percentage of students who are “proficient” and “advanced” by the standards of the DC Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS), the district’s standardized achievement test. Only selected numbers are released, and DCPS uses them to claim gains in proficiency and progress in closing large achievement gaps. However, the DC-CAS scores are manipulated in ways that make it impossible to understand how raw scores—the number of correct answers on the tests—are translated into scale and “cut” scores—levels of Basic, Proficient, and Advanced – and thus what and how much students are actually learning. Moreover, many key data points and other information are concealed to avoid any bad news.
This memo will illustrate, via an example in a high-profile district, the types of conflicts and problems that inevitably arise when undue pressure is put on student standardized tests. Our hope is that shedding light on the consequences of poorly conceived federal policies, misguided philanthropic contributions, and other pressure will spur a balanced and thoughtful discussion of more effective strategies that would boost all students and their communities, rather than sustaining and exacerbating existing disparities.
To RSVP, email Donte Donald at ddonald@epi.org.
What: Press call on real vs. claimed achievement trends among DCPS students
Who: Elaine Weiss, national coordinator of the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education
When: Thursday, July 10th at 11:00 a.m. ET
Call-in number: 1-800-311-9403
Passcode: 960316
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It’s been a while since I read ANIMAL FARM, but isn’t there a part where they keep reporting all sorts of favorable numbers about the farm (which may or may not be true, but in any case don’t benefit the animals) in order to keep the animals proud of the farm and working hard? Every time I hear about things like test scores I think of that book.
Absolutely. The animals are slowly starving, but Squealer ( gotta love the name) keeps reading reports telling them they’re doing better than ever. They’re working so hard, they ‘re too tired to really think, and they don’t really remember.
So, we know the tests are invalid and data manipulated. But the public has been told for so long that the lazy teachers are responsible for all of the evils of society for so long, that they think we don’t want testing because we don’t want to be ” accountable” for what we do. So, has anyone come up with a system that actually looks at multiple measures that works well enough that we could get behind it?
California,
I have a fantasy that we go back to the days when I had never heard of DATA and I can teach my kids in peace.
No small irony that this is happening in the same place that brought us Rhee-voltings cheating scandal. Cheating to get the numbers up 2 ways now in DC, (that we know of) so what’s next? Disappearing low performing schools from the data set? Implementing a “cut score floor” such that kids below a certain level aren’t counted because of well, data quality or some other excuse?These people are the Ferengi of education.
Official government statistics of all kinds are highly subject to manipulation and fraudulent reporting. After the fall of Ceausescu in Romania the true figures on agricultural production turned out to be about a fourth of the officially reported figures.
It’s amazing though how many people accept official truth.