Mercedes Schneider writes here about what Pearson did to students in Mississippi.
Scores were misreported. Some students graduated whose scores were too low. Some failed to graduate even though they passed the tests.
The state fired Pearson.
Can you believe that politicians allow standardized tests to determine the life course of students. Doing so is the height of stupidity.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Way beyond the height of stupidity. Is there a word for that?
“Evil”
I know someone who checked the written
math section for third grade. The students had to find the area of a 3′ x 5′ rectangle then give three explanations for their answer. Each day the criteria for passing that part of the test changed. If too many students passed, they would change the matrix for that day.
OMG! CRAZY & BAD.
I am plain worn out by U. S. idiocy.
So am I.
“Can you believe that politicians and educators allow standardized tests to
determine the life course of students. Doing so is the height of stupidity.”
To me it looks like laziness: This guy passed, he’s good to go. That guy failed, hold him back.
Rubber stamp, rubber stamp.
Perhaps you haven’t gotten the latest updates to ed lingo…
Of course we’ll need a translation from the language of the playbook of corporate education reform, Rheephormish, to standard English…
Mandated standardized tests to punish and fail the vast majority in the service of $tudent $ucce$$ for the fortunate few = standardized stupidity.
And speaking strictly from a hygienic POV, this sort of stupidity is highly infectious, especially virulent to those that peddle, require, spread and profit from it.
Which is exactly why the leaders of the worldwide “civil rights movement of our time” [among other things] are part of GERM.
I rest my case.
😎
It’s plain stupid.
Mississippi teachers are not lazy.
I just want to make sure you don’t mean Mississippi teachers are lazy.
This is not a teacher problem. It is a policy problem.
Amanda, I was referring to the District or State level folks who made the decision to use the test scores as a pass or fail indicator. I would never even think that Mississippi teachers were part of this mess. I attended schools in four different states. I spent five years in school in Mississippi and returned to the University there. The teachers I had were wonderful. I learned because I knew they meant business and they knew their subjects. I do apologize if my post suggested that it was the teachers who were lazy, far from it.
Diane, this sounds like you are calling Mississippi’s educators stupid. I can assure you that we are not stupid. We are fighting as hard as we can for our public schools too. We are not stupid. Mississippians are not all stupid.
“Can you believe that politicians and educators allow standardized tests to determine the life course of students. Doing so is the height of stupidity.”
Prior to this Diane mentions that Pearson was fired by the state for their numerous errors. If you read the above quote, she is not critical of Mississippi teachers. She is criticizing the use of standardized tests as determining the fate of students. High stakes testing harms vulnerable students. While she does mention educators, I believe she is referring to administrators as they enforce policy, not teachers.
Thanks.
Thank you, Retired teacher. I don’t blame teachers for the pernicious policies adopted by politicians and imposed by state education officials who meekly comply.
Diane, I know you don’t blame teachers. I adore that.
I know you care about Mississippi. I just wanted to make sure everyone else knew that. Imagine happening upon this one post the way it was worded with no background knowledge. I don’t want the “Mississippians are stupid” stereotype to be perpetuated. I appreciate you reading my comment and amending the post.
Please keep up the good work. I don’t know how you do everything you do, but I am so glad that you do it.
Thank you for caring about MS! I hope you are able to come here one day. I work at the school Elvis attended…wink wink!
Amanda,
All of those who impose standardized testing on young children for hours and hours are part of a stupid process and they should say no.
Amanda,
Educators should denounce the current misuse of testing to label children. To allay your concern, I revised the sentence. Many elected officials think that the way to raise scores is to make tests harder.
Thank you.
“Many elected officials think that the way to raise scores is to make tests harder.”
Right, Diane. And that is totally stupid.
Believe me, this is not just about Mississippi. And most probably not about teachers at all, who are on the receiving end of whatever cockamamie ed scheme the state buys into, courtesy of whatever natl/global outfit is stuffing the govr’s campaign coffers.
If your state is like mine [NJ], the gov appoints the ed commish, who imposes stds/ assessments/ accountability schemes on the district– regardless of whether your district has a democratically-elected BOEd– or even gets a reasonable state-tax input to its budget.
In NJ, wealthy districts like mine kick back a huge chunk of our exorbitant RE-tax-based school taxes to the state, which goes to support poorer school districts. Our municipal RE taxes bear 96% of our district school budget. Yet when our supt of schools tried to get a waiver from the new state-imposed hisch exit exam a dozen yrs ago (since we already were graduating 98% kids, many to prestigious colleges), he was nixed.
And now we are encumbered w/the dumbed-down CCSS, much-worse hi-sch exit-exam scheme based on PARCC, SAT, ACT, plus the ridiculous voluminous Marzano hi-stakes teacher-evaln. I wish we could just flip the bird to Christie, eat the 4% state-aid, & educate as we wish– district citizens might even go for it– but we are trapped by the currentstate law which imposes a 2% cap on RE-tax increases.
Ed-wise, I think we have [state] taxation w/o representation, here.
Do you think Marzano thought his work would be used against teachers?
Marzano and Danielson may very well be opposed to how their work is being hijacked and perverted.
They are also laughing as both skip merrily, hand-in-hand, on the flower strewn path that leads right to the (CHA-CHING) bank!
Yeah. They are skipping to the bank. But, from reading their work, I really don’t think they intended the work to be used the way it has. They should denounce it, but like you said…BANK.
Mississippian teachers can make better tests than Pearson. Mississippian kindergarteners can make better tests than Pearson. That dog in the yoga video can make a better test than Pearson.
That dog in the video would make a better president starting with Reagan to Trump.
No, the poop to come out of that dog’s behind would make a better president than what you have now. Or is there a difference?
Not the poop. Dogs will eat grass when something they eat bothers them and then they will vomit it all out. Cats will do the same thing.
That mess would make a better president than Trump, Pence, Ryan, Hatch, Tillerson, Mnuchin. That is the first five in the current line of succession. #6 is James Mattis, the former 4-star Marine general, the only one in the line that might actually make a decent president.
Agree, Lloyd.
And teachers are much better at grading exams, especially those that determine whether a student graduates. What happened is not only scandalous, but inexcusable. This was not a minor error (like giving third graders the fifth grade test by mistake). Kudos for firing Pearson’s asses for this gross negligence.
Now if they could just deport them.
“Now if they could just deport them” – to Mars. Is Mars far enough or should we send them further into deep space?
Teachers KNOW. Politicians are bought and sold anyway. It’s now the TYRANNY of Corporations aided by politicians. The corporations even kill us.