Missouri officials threw out the results from two tests as useless.
Both tests were constructed by Questar.
“JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri education officials on Wednesday said results from two statewide tests can’t be used to gauge how well public school districts are educating high school students.
“Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven told reporters that the high school Algebra I and English II end-of-course assessments from this past school year are being tossed out because they lacked “year-to-year comparisons.” They won’t be used as part of accountability metrics to determine how well schools are doing and whether they’ve progressed over time.
“That’s absolutely our primary concern, is making sure no one is negatively penalized for this type of experience,” Vandeven said.
“The department noticed potential issues when the results were delivered in late July, Vandeven said. An advisory committee on Aug. 18 recommended that both the Algebra and English test results not be used in school metrics.
“Vandeven declined to provide more details on what went wrong with the tests, but she said they’re holding Minneapolis-based developer Questar accountable. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education attorney Bill Thornton said the agency is hesitant to discuss more specifics because the issue might end up in court.
“A request for comment to Questar was not immediately returned Wednesday.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Two down, zillions more to go.
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When we learn, when will we ever learn?
No doubt never when it comes to educational malpractices such are the standards and testing regimes.
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Requiring year-to year-metrics means never making a big change in anything tested. The only “threat” of losing year-to year-metrics is to stack ratings of teachers and schools. The myth that test scores reflect “growth” or improvement in learning must be sustained.
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Doctors take an oath to do no harm. Our elected officials should also have an oath they take to DO NO HARM.
Quesstar is hiding.
What a bunch of dirt bags.
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Ms. Ravitch: Will you please look at the state testing fiasco inTennessee. We have had no feedback on state mandated tests in two years and it eats up valuable class time and students are test resistant and know it doesn’t count. How many millions of dollars is Tennessee paying these testing companies who cannot get them graded? Taxpayers and parents should be outraged. Sincerely, DeWayne Emert
Sent from my iPhone
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DeWayne,
I am not in Tennessee but would be happy to post a good analysis of the testing fiasco there.
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…and the response to the thousands of students who had to undergo the stress of months of preparation for these tests, as well as the tests themselves, & the teachers who were forced to put them through it rather than a more productive program: “Oops! Our bad!”
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oh for an onslaught of student/parent lawsuits
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We can only hope!
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My suspicion is that the tests were ‘questioned’ because rich kids of a certain ethnicity did more poorly than ‘expected’. This would be consistent with how the ‘veracity’ of standardized tests has been judged for almost a century.
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Whatever works. If those middle to upper class suburban parents complain loudly enough politician will listen if only because they count upon their vote.
The voiceless urban and rural poor have carried the brunt of this testing barrage, but now those with more clout are affected, suddenly “people” are starting to take notice.
I forsee the beginning of the end – although testing is not going away without a last ditch struggle for survival. (See NYS Regents attempt at punishment for opting out).
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Reposting a published article is safe enough for informing the country as to what is going on, and comments pointing out the futility of administering statewide standardized assessments for improving student learning (note I did not say test taking) is appropriate, but identifying the tests “useless” tests as being constructed by Questar can mislead readers into a false impression. It’s safer to assume that there’s more to this story than the carefully constructed press releases to the media are telling.
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Standardized tests do not improve learning.
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