FairTest Report on Testing Reform and Resistance to High-Stakes Testing

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1. Laura H. Chapman says:

   June 22, 2016 at 3:13 pm

   You could add to the list of worth reading this from the Institute of Education Sciences

   A state law in Florida requires the 100 elementary schools with the lowest reading performance to extend the school day by one hour. A new Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast study explores how that extra time is being used and if it is making a difference in student outcomes.

   The study, conducted at the request of REL Southwest’s Improving Literacy Alliance and Improving Low Performing Schools Alliance, found that the lowest performing schools:

   • increased the number of minutes of reading instruction provided to students;
   • increased the number of staff; and
   • provided instruction in the extra hour that differed from instruction during the rest of the day.

   While average school reading performance improved among the lowest performing schools, the increase did not exceed the small year-to-year variations expected when measuring initially low student performance.

   Read the report at: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=4534

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   • AlwaysLearning says:

     June 22, 2016 at 3:46 pm

     They would have been better off abandoning any formal instruction and instead reading to the students from quality literature. In addition, they should have scheduled extra library time that allowed self selected book exchange. You have to practice any new skills. This would have given them additional time to put newly leaned skills into practice.

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   • Duane Swacker says:

     June 22, 2016 at 7:11 pm

     “. . . the small year-to-year variations expected when measuring initially low student performance.”

     There is no “measuring” of “student performance” ever in the teaching and learning process. There can be assessing, evaluating and/or judging in the process but not measuring.

     There is no agreed upon standard unit of measurement, no example of that standard unit against which a measuring device, of which there are none, can be calibrated and no error of measurement in using the non-existent measuring device.

     The falsehood of “measuring student achievement” goes back to the beginnings of standardized testing and psychometrics. Psychometrics being more akin to psychometry than to any true scientific pursuit. In order to be scientific one must adhere to a regime of “fidelity to truth” with words being properly used to connote the correct meaning. Without that fidelity to truth in word usage as is done in psychometrics, the whole scheme has to eventually fall apart. But ingrained social practices and customs can be extremely hard to get rid of much like an MRSA infection. And like that infection the outcomes of the false meme of “measuring” the teaching and learning process are extremely harmful.

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2. A friend of CBE says:

   June 22, 2016 at 6:25 pm

   What are the numbers of refusers this year? In NH, they are way down – not exactly an opportunity for refusers to increase their policy demands.

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3. Mary Horsley says:

   June 23, 2016 at 9:41 am

   I am free for two months. My administrator could never follow my own accommodations as a person with asperger syndrome. One being I should have a written review each month. Instead, my evaluation at the end of the year can never go above proficient and have several needs improvement. Needs improvement on diversifying the curriculum? This is what I do all the time. She was upset that I did not turn my lessons in on Wed. night. But I recall her saying in Sept. we should go to bed and get rest. I work better on the weekend. What is the big deal? I don’t get it. She wants me to open up my classroom so all can be seen. But kids with autism get distracted easily and sometimes learn better behind a barrier. She doesn’t understand. I am 61. I still want to teach. But with so many teachers that leave every year, one wonders why. It is difficult to get jobs at my age and with a disability.

   She continues to compare all children the same. I can’t even get her to read Temple Grandin who says you shouldn’t.

   I am frustrated and tired. Why do the rich get the best schools? I know. They pay for it. I wonder what schools Trump’s kids attended?

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   • ciedie aech says:

     June 23, 2016 at 1:50 pm

     Sadly, school reform is simply not about what is best for children.

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