A computer glitch did it. Thousands of students in Indiana received the wrong scores on the state tests.
Company officials downplayed the problem, but education officials said the integrity of the tests was crucial, as they will affect student grades, teacher pay, and people’s lives.
This is is the latest in a series of flaws that have plagued the computerized testing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Garbage in, garbage out.
I love how computer grading was supposed to make life easier for the teacher. In Buffalo, first quarter grades didn’t come out until the beginning of December when usually they were available before Thanksgiving. Glitches? I know that inputting student scores are always an issue due to the limited capacity of the server and the fact that all the teachers are trying to get to the same site at the same time. Hopefully the teacher doesn’t lose all their work by having the students grades disappear into the netherworld, although that happens more often then it should, leaving an hour or more of work to be redone.
I can’t wait to see what happens when the NYS assssments go online. Millions of kids taking the tests at the same time. I would laugh my head off when it all comes crashing down, but I care too much for the teachers and students who will be impacted by this upcoming disaster. Anyone who has had a computer “go dead” in the middle of their hard work and lost all their data, will understand the feeling of angst, you know that pit in your stomach feeling, which results from the malfunction of this so called be-all/end-all tool.
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If you give a machine-scoreable multiple-choice test, there’s no question that the machine scoring makes your life vastly easier as a teacher. When I gave such tests in the late 1980s/early 1990s in NYC (they were mandated by the math department at the community college where I taught: I didn’t create them, but simply picked one of dozens that covered the same material), I ran the little bubble-sheets through the machine and got the scores. Nothing could have been faster and easier.
That’s quite different from computer-graded tests that are sent out to be scored by companies. The teacher has no way to look at the sheets to make sure there are no glitches. And THOSE were never designed to make teachers’ lives easier: they were designed to make politicians’ and privatizers’ lives easier.
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Reblogged this on Politicians Are Poody Heads.
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Ironically, this is one of the arguments testing companies will offer when arguing for algorithmic scoring of constructed and writing responses. While I would point to the technology error with keypad input, they would likely say the complexity of human scoring then being entered via keypad or mouse is another opportunity for error in the scoring process.
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The same test-scoring screw-ups may have taken place in Georgia:
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/state-investigates-possible-errors-in-school-test-/npk7y/
A chronology of computer testing problems is online at:
http://www.fairtest.org/computerized-testing-problems-2013-2015
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Whether it’s the standardized tests or their “aligned” technology, the promise has been, is now, and always will be, that tweaks and fixes and solutions are coming rheeal rheeal soon.
Just one ludicrous example of the “genius” behind self-proclaimed “education reform.” First five paragraphs:
[start]
Eighth-graders who thought a passage about a pineapple and a hare on New York state tests this week made no sense, take heart: The author thinks it’s absurd too.
“It’s hilarious on the face of it that anybody creating a test would use a passage of mine, because I’m an advocate of nonsense,” Daniel Pinkwater, the renowned children’s author and accidental exam writer, said in an interview. “I believe that things mean things, but they don’t have assigned meanings.”
Pinkwater, who wrote the original story on which the test question was based, has been deluged with comments from puzzled students — and not for the first time. The passage seems to have been recycled from English tests in other states, bringing him new batches of befuddled students each time it’s used.
The original story, which Pinkwater calls a “fractured fable,” was about a race between a rabbit and an eggplant. By the time it got onto standardized tests, however, it had doubled in length and become a race between a hare and a talking pineapple, with various other animals involved. In the end, the animals eat the pineapple.
The tests can be used to determine whether a student is promoted to the next grade. Once new teacher evaluations are put in place, the tests will also affect teachers’ careers.
Pearson PLC, which created the test as part of a five-year, $32 million state contract, referred questions to the New York State Education Department. The department hasn’t returned requests for comment since Wednesday.
[end]
Read the interview that follows.
Link: http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/04/20/daniel-pinkwater-on-pineapple-exam-nonsense-on-top-of-nonsense/
And since this came from one of the holy books of self-described “education reform”—sorry, no palming this off on to those for a “better education for all.”
How far back do the absurdities go? Read Banesh Hoffman, THE TYRANNY OF TESTING (republication of the 1964 edition originally issued in 1962). And that’s just 55 years back…
That’s why I dub it “test-to-punish” not “test-and-punish.” The punishments don’t FOLLOW but ACCOMPANY the tests—can anyone spell “vomit bags”?
I rest my case.
😎
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“First five paragraphs” should read “First six paragraphs”—
My bad.
😎
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If a test has not been shown to be valid for its claimed purpose, what does “mis-score” mean?
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Mis-score = mental masturbation, not just mental mathturbation.
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Michael, even the scantsheets have issues. One time (that I know of) my daughter wrote her answers in the test book and then transcribed them to the sheet but she skipped one number and so her answers were not accurate and she failed the test even though she knew the answers. The teacher would not give her credit for what she really learned even though I pointed out the problem.
Many children skip a question and thus end up with wrong answers. It’s an art form to read a question, determine an answer, then transcribe it onto another form, especially for young children. It’s similar to the difficulty some children have copying information off the board (or screen). Not everyone has good eye hand coordination.
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Arrgh. Hope such failures are published far & wide. It is important to remind the public that tech is in its infancy despite grandiose claims, & that testing via computer is simply an experiment in our era, & not capable of bearing the weight of significant consequence w/o pencil & paper backup. Heck, we can’t even edit our posts on this erudite forum!
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