In the midst of debate about whether to confirm Hanna Skandera as State Secretary of Education, the New Mexico State Senate voted to eliminate the school grading system that Skandera had created.
No one understood it.
She said it was designed by “experts,” but even one of her spokesmen admitted that very few people understood how it worked.
Its key feature was that test scores determine a school’s grade.
Here is an idea: everyone at the upper levels of the New Mexico Public Education Department should take the high school test in math and publish their scores.
And so should every state senator who voted to support the school grading system.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Maybe that should be a NPE proposal: state legislation that require students to take tests with high stakes attached should be required to do the same, and post their scores in rank order.
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And further, if legislators can’t pass the test they are fired from the legislature, just as they were attempting to fire teachers based on the scores.
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Even better: make the legislators responsible for their CONSTITUENTS’ test scores. That would turn a few heads!
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I could be real good at pushing random buttons for a high stakes test that would determine the fate of some of my state legislators.
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By all means, let’s turn cheating over to the experts.
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When someone says “experts”, I hear crooks.
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Only mean teachers grade on a bell curve. Even engineering profs are rarely that cold blooded.
I prefer something that is more friendly to the general public, the Taco bell curve. Each school is given the grade of tostada, taco, burrito, fajita, or burrito supreme, based on a popular vote of the students. Any improvement in test scores wins a school a free trip to Taco Bell. Simple, yet elegant.
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And so should every teacher in America, and those who don’t pass, should leave.
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Should leave. . . ? . . . America? What if it is a capitalist loving, socialist hating god-fearing teacher?
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If he can’t pass the 5th grade math test and he’s teaching 5th grade, he should go regardless of his politics, religion, or anything else. Competence is competence. I say test the teachers FIRST.
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Harlan, how about you take the eighth grade math test in your state and publish your scores on the blog?
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That is a fair challenge. I can’t promise to bring it off, but I’ll look into it. Will you do the same?
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I will be taking the NYSDE 2010 8th grade math test.
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http://www.nysedregents.org/Grade8/Mathematics/home.html
I’ll use the eighth grade math exam in YOUR state, Diane.
I should have said NYSED=New York State Education Department
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Legislators should also be willing to come in and witness the harm we are doing by giving these tests to our students. Maybe after watching my little ones burst into tears they’ll understand why we are against this nonsense.
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