Opt Out lives!
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/education/schools-ela-opt-outs-test-boycott-1.29381145
Meanwhile computer glitches across scattered districts caused student answers to disappear and other problems.
Computer-based assessment is a dumb idea.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I will never, ever utter a snarky remark about Long Island again. Staten Island, on the other hand…
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Good for LI! These tests have to go… on computer and paper.
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The SED should know, “Don’t Mess with Long Island!” It was a Great Neck teacher that brought down the unscientific and capricious nature of VAM. If the SED tries to retaliate against the school districts, the lawsuits will fly. There are a lot more lawyers in Long Island than fishermen these days.
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“Computer glitch”?
What does that even mean?
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Computer glitch
Helps scratch the itch
To use our kids
And grease the skids
For grifters to get rich
Apologies to SDP. Like Waylon Jennings used to say, “I just made that up.”
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Students at my school were given the California test in the wrong language yesterday. I’d call that an error. Calling errors glitches is just a way to pass off the blame. “It’s too complicated for people to understand” is a common excuse.
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They gave an ELA test in the wrong language?
Ha ha ha ha!
Where do they find these testing people? The monkey house at the local zoo? (My apologies to monkeys everywhere)
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I can’t believe that, TEN years after the publication of Making the Grade: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry, we are still having this discussion!
City by city, state by state was walking out against charters & for real funding of public schools & teachers pay–where is the NATIONAL walkout against testing?
That. Would. Work. REFUSE to administer these tests. Parents: KEEP your kids OUT of school on testing days.
Todd Farley, if you are reading this please respond: are your children taking “standardized” tests?
I bet not.
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so much outright corruption and abuse exposed in detail on blogs and in social media groups: yet the national media remains dismissive
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I taught a kid from what he called “Lon Gyland” (sounds like a movie star to me) about 35 years ago. He loved spam. The real stuff, not the computer metaphor.
Thus it seems to me we should replace the testing in that erstwhile home for so many expatriates I have met over the years with a around of mulitple choice questions about Spam. An example might be: Which fundamentally American meat product is favored by residents of Long Island? Students answering incorrectly might be sent to a re-education camp where they would work long hours all day and be fed on the hormel diet at night. We have to get control of these unruly children. How do we even know if some of them like spam?
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This. Is. Awesome!!!! Congrats to the brave, stalwart, true parents of Long Island!
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Yay for Long Island. Sad for Cleveland.
Yay for computer glitches like this one, given the reasons for these online tests. Sad for the testers.
Remember when people say, “The computer did it.”
I think, “Huh? Isn’t some person or persons involved?”
So to personalize or individualize learning and insure that students learn, one uses a computer. Isn’t this an oxymoron?
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Great news! It makes my day. 46 is a nice, big number. One day, 100. One day, all of NYC. One day, Congress gets its head out of the sand and ends the testing madness. For now, big cheer for the fighting forty-six!
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The unlimited time component on these tests has created a whole new set of problems.
We were in testing rooms for over four hours and a good number of students continued writing for hours after that. This is one hour longer than the high school Regents time limit. Unlimited time. Think about the message this sends to the serious, highly motivated student. We expect you to write until you run out of booklet space! Please rescind thus foolish policy.
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Unlimited time also makes the test NonStandardized.
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Four hours! Try over six hours! Ha!
The tests themselves are not the worst thing in the world. It seemed like a fair test and they were certainly on grade level – I teach at a middle school.
It’s the pressure students feel that is troubling. I wish we could make the tests pass / fail. I think that would relieve a lot of pressure. If a kid can “PASS,” the difference between points shouldn’t make a difference.
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We still had kids writing the day after. Allowing what used to be a two hour test to become a two day test is point blank stupid. The test may have seemed reasonable, however the writing required is so unbelievably constrained by the CC standards that kids have to do little more than find two examples of supporting evidence that in almost all cases is not much beyond some simple, self-evident sentence. The degree to which this promotes cookie-cutter writing makes any test score almost meaningless.
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Yes, that’s why a PASS / FAIL would be appropriate.
You hit it on the head. The test is inadequate because it only assesses a few narrow abilities. So it doesn’t deserve that kind of focus in an entire school year.
And I know many argue this here, but the other standards get completely ignored and many of them are good.
And Diane, it might be true about the MA standards being “tested” and that’s what makes the difference, but READ them alongside the CCSS. I focus on middle school and they are either the same, or like I said, a grade level behind.
And I doubt most school districts even pay much attention to the standards. Instead, they focus on the “test” standards. Things that are directly tested – just like RageAgainstIgnorance put it.
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This is off topic but one that concerns me. Indiana has had a 60% rise in foster children between 2012 and 2016. Doesn’t this say something is terribly wrong with this state. Why are there so many drug addicted adults in Indiana?
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Indiana foster children are less likely to graduate, more likely to be suspended, a new report shows
Indiana now has its first look at how well the state is educating the 9,000 school-age children in foster care, and the findings are discouraging. Foster children are more likely than their peers to attend underperforming schools, and only 64 percent graduate from high school.
The first-of-its-kind report, mandated under a new law, is timely: In Indiana, the number of foster children rose 60 percent between 2012 and 2016 — the second-steepest climb in the nation. The state’s opioid crisis is a factor, as many foster children come from families dealing with the effects of drug addiction.
Brent Kent, the CEO of Indiana Connected By 25, which advocates for foster children, said the study’s findings were “disturbing.”
“These children were removed from their families through no fault of their own, and they should not be denied educational opportunities because of their involvement in the foster care system,” he said.
Foster children, who are more likely than their peers to move frequently and face instability at home, have a harder time on average keeping up with their schoolwork and graduating on-time. (The graduation rate statewide is 88 percent.)
In addition, foster children are more than twice as likely as students outside the foster system to be suspended from school, the study found.
“This population has or does experience instability and stress at home,” the report said. “Trauma can also cause a disruption of the child’s ability to effectively engage in the classroom lessons or manifest as negative behaviors.”…
Kent stressed that the 64 percent graduation rate among foster children is unacceptable. He also noted that one in five foster students are graduating with waivers that let them receive diplomas without having passed state tests, compared to about 8 percent of non-foster students, according to the report.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2019/04/04/indiana-foster-children-are-less-likely-to-graduate-more-likely-to-be-suspended-a-new-report-shows/?utm_source=email_button
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Idaho is at the bottom of funding for its public schools but it has now put $40 million into charter schools. Local taxpayers don’t have a say in the increase of money that goes to charters.
………………………………
IDAHO’S $40 MILLION STAKE IN CHARTER SCHOOL BUILDINGS
Kevin Richert 04/04/2019
Burgess preached patience. He said the bill had a “built-in escalator,” which would pay off in time.
The numbers bear this out. The charter facilities budget line item has grown annually. The state has earmarked $8.8 million for the program next year — more than four times as much as the first-year appropriation.
When that money comes in, the state will have quietly spent more than $40 million in state tax dollars on charter facilities. And unlike traditional public schools, charter schools do not have to go to local taxpayers for support. The state money comes in without a vote.
“https://www.idahoednews.org/news/idahos-40-million-stake-in-charter-school-buildings/?utm_source=republish&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=republish”>
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Idaho. Billionaire Albertson Foundation wants charters.
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Wonderful news, setting an example.
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New Yorkers should be questioning if SETDA is modeled after ALEC, with the difference that the governance and members are public employees working with the tech industry, instead of elected officials working with a cross section of industries.
SETDA, like ALEC, is non-partisan and non-profit. It hasn’t been subjected to media attention for its political influence which is purportedly in behalf of citizens (or, is it for Gates and, SETDA’s “Gold, Silver, …partners”?) .
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OMG–a skunk by any other name still smells, & it’s all ALEC.
Hopefully, as per recent Chicago elections, a new day will be dawning.
Just recently, IL House passed bill for elected school board, although some clean up needs doing before Senate votes (calls for 21 board members–as Mayor-elect Lightfoot called it, too many members).
Also, wouldn’t go into effect until 2023—FOUR years (why so far off?)!
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I keep commenting about how great my state Representative is. Representative Chris Chyung just sent out this email with a chart attached. I can’t copy/paste the chart but it shows just how bad this state is.
…………………………………….
Dear Hoosiers:
This week I learned from Statista that Indiana is dead last in the nation in salary growth for teachers.
I supported proposals this legislative session that would have increased teacher pay in Indiana NOW.
We need to attract and keep talented teachers in our classrooms because we know that the quality of our teachers directly relates to the academic success of our students.
A survey conducted by the Indiana Department of Education reported 88 percent of educators who responded were unsatisfied with their pay, and it was the reason most frequently given for leaving the teaching profession.
I stand with our 71,000 public school teachers who deserve a pay raise NOW.
I will continue to fight for our teachers, students and public schools at every turn.
Sincerely,
Chris Chyung
State Representative
Indiana House District 15
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Rumor has it that Tennessee is going back to paper. At least when we did tests on paper we received the scores from the malpractice before October.
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