Matt DiCarlo here describes a paper that shows how utterly arbitrary NCLB is.
Some states look good.
Some states look very bad.
But the states that look bad may actually be outperforming the states that look good..
When will our policymakers acknowledge that NCLB is a harmful, destructive law that has wreaked havoc on American education?
Where Matt and I part company is this observation he concludes with: “…accountability systems can play a productive role in education, but this analysis demonstrates very clearly that, when it comes to the design and implementation of these systems, details matter. Seemingly trivial choices can have drastic effects on measured outcomes.”
No, accountability systems are not likely to play a productive number in education. NCLB is a disaster. Race to the Top is a double disaster.
Who will be held “accountable” for low test scores? Teachers? Students? Principals? Schools? Superintendents? Local school boards? Legislators? Governors? The U,S. Department of Education? Congress?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The reason I find the implementation of the testing in Ohio to be misguided is that, although the goal of NCLB was that all students would reach proficiency in math and reading by 2014, schools that have been succeeding since the beginning of the testing process sometimes become penalized because they reach a plateau. With the tests changing every year, it is very difficult to guarantee the so-called AYP gains that are demanded by the state. A school that has scores near the top of the scale has little room to “grow” and sometimes has to work very, very hard to maintain the scores. The differences in the tests for 3rd to 4th and 4th to 5th grade are not necessarily representative of a year’s growth. Yet, during this process, we are all scrambling to figure out just what is “behind the curtain”. It has been said that each year we are aiming for a moving target while having a sack over our heads. These tests aren’t standardized because they are never static. If they wish to use these tests to evaluate students, teachers, and districts, the expectations need to be revealed and there should not be a constant “moving of the bar”. Assuming that a given school and teacher can deal equally well with transient students, who need time for adjustment into a new learning environment and social comfort, is just one tiny aspect of the unreasonable expectations that have been put upon all concerned.
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NCLB and RTTT and RTI are trash. That is a given. Accountability for the progress of students, mandatory in some “Real form of Accountability.” You cannot have a system running on “Whatever.” It has to have some measurements. No one seems to discuss what happens with or are there “Weekly Tests” as we used to have. If they do not have those the system is out of control. This gives along with the homework the teacher a real snapshot in time of what each student is doing or not doing. If you cannot pass a standard math and language test no matter what anyone says something is wrong if that is in high numbers. There is no perfection. Think on the blog a few days ago on what they are doing to special ed and deaf students. That was a bad joke on those students. But with your normal population if they cannot pass those tests and the drop outs are high there is a real problem and it must be analyzed and solved. This does not seem to happen.
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“Who will be held ‘accountable’ for low test scores? Teachers? Students? Principals? Schools? Superintendents? Local school boards? Legislators? Governors? The U,S. Department of Education? Congress?”
Oo! Oo! I know the answer!
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Testing is also an issue in rural schools where a class of 20 or less students can test high or low as a reflection of the students ablities and the averages vary greatly from year to year. So how do you judge adequate yearly progress for these students.
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I agree with you, Diane. NCLB was bad, but Race-to-the-top is worse by far.
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You are right! BOTH ARE INDEED MISGUIDED…totally! Both are repressive, uses the carrot-and-stick model, is factory-minded, promotes fear rather than joy, and are developmentally inappropriate, and theoretically and pedagogy just wrong. Why do Gates, ALEC, Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and rest of this uninformed with special interests groups with deep pockets for campaign contributions make policy? Ah…Forgot. It’s about money and control over the masses by the elite. We are NOT a democracy. We have an oligarchy.
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