standardized test scores Archive

  • Standardized testing has become the go-to procedure for evaluating students, schools, districts, and now teachers and principals.  As someone with a background in testing, I have been opposed to the use of these tests since high-stakes consequences have been attached to the scores of students.  These two papers do a good job of capturing why standardized test scores should not be used for ANY high-stakes decisions. This comes to us from: Monty Neill FairTest has revised and updated two of its most popular fact sheets (all FT fact sheets are at http://fairtest.org/fact%20sheets). How Standardized Testing Damages Education – at http://fairtest.org/how-standardized-testing-damages-education-pdf What’s Wrong with Standardized Tests? – http://fairtest.org/facts/whatwron.htm We hope you find these and our other fact sheets of use in your advocacy and education week. They may be freely circulated, printed, etc., so long as proper credit is given and...

    Standardized Test Fact Sheets

    Posted on July 11, 2012 | No Comments
    Standardized testing has become the go-to procedure for evaluating students, schools, districts, and now teachers and principals.  As someone with a background in testing, I have been opposed to the use of these tests since high-stakes consequences have been attached to the scores of students.  These two papers do a good job of capturing why standardized test scores should not be used for ANY high-stakes decisions. This comes to us from: Monty Neill FairTest has revised and updated two of its most popular fact sheets (all FT fact sheets are at http://fairtest.org/fact%20sheets). How Standardized Testing Damages Education – at http://fairtest.org/how-standardized-testing-damages-education-pdf What’s Wrong with Standardized Tests? – http://fairtest.org/facts/whatwron.htm We hope you find these and our other fact sheets of use in your advocacy and education week. They may be freely circulated, printed, etc., so long as proper credit is given and...

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  • Excerpts from this article: …As scores came back from the very first round of testing, teachers noticed that many of the scores did not match what they were observing in their classrooms. …We should have noticed that the RIT scores from the test failed to give us the specific information we needed about each student.  We had strong evidence that the tests were cognitively inaccurate, and numerically unreliable, but we failed act.   As a teaching staff, we were too busy doing the daily things that we had to do. …But teachers reported that the growth graphs did not even come close to matching what they were observing in the classroom. …At the meeting, I again pointed out that our data clearly showed 20% to 50% of the scores being unreliable.  Both the curriculum coordinator and special services coordinator laughed at...

    Can We Be Confident In Standardized Test Results? – Part 4

    Posted on October 25, 2011 | 1 Comment
    Excerpts from this article: …As scores came back from the very first round of testing, teachers noticed that many of the scores did not match what they were observing in their classrooms. …We should have noticed that the RIT scores from the test failed to give us the specific information we needed about each student.  We had strong evidence that the tests were cognitively inaccurate, and numerically unreliable, but we failed act.   As a teaching staff, we were too busy doing the daily things that we had to do. …But teachers reported that the growth graphs did not even come close to matching what they were observing in the classroom. …At the meeting, I again pointed out that our data clearly showed 20% to 50% of the scores being unreliable.  Both the curriculum coordinator and special services coordinator laughed at...

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  • Kennewick, along with most cities and towns in the country, has relied on standardized testing as a way to improve achievement for the past twenty years despite the arguments of assessment experts.

    Real Reform

    Posted on December 27, 2010 | No Comments
    Kennewick, along with most cities and towns in the country, has relied on standardized testing as a way to improve achievement for the past twenty years despite the arguments of assessment experts.

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  • In opening each program, Superintendent Dave Bond described the purposes: to engage the community in understanding student academic performance, share data to explain how KSD is helping students reach or exceed education standards and receive community recommendations. The goals are merit worthy but I do not believe they were achieved in these two sessions.

    Review of KSD Reports to the Community by Tom Staly

    Posted on December 6, 2010 | 1 Comment
    In opening each program, Superintendent Dave Bond described the purposes: to engage the community in understanding student academic performance, share data to explain how KSD is helping students reach or exceed education standards and receive community recommendations. The goals are merit worthy but I do not believe they were achieved in these two sessions.

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  • Kennewick School District Citizens A presentation to AAUW, Enterprise, Oregon September 13, 2010. Please take a moment to answer each of the following.  Base your answer on what you believe is appropriate for your own child: 1.         The primary purpose of reading instruction is: Life-long love of reading To read and comprehend the written word at a increasing level of sophistication Score at a high level on a standardized, multiple-choice reading achievement test 2.              The primary purpose of school mathematics instruction is: Become proficient in the math necessary for everyday living and for entry-level employment Understand math concepts at increasing levels of sophistication allowing students to pursue careers in math, science engineering, or technology. Score high on a standardized, multiple-choice math achievement test 3.              The primary purpose of the public school is: Provide each child with a healthy, safe, supported...

    AAUW Presentation

    Posted on September 14, 2010 | 8 Comments
    Kennewick School District Citizens A presentation to AAUW, Enterprise, Oregon September 13, 2010. Please take a moment to answer each of the following.  Base your answer on what you believe is appropriate for your own child: 1.         The primary purpose of reading instruction is: Life-long love of reading To read and comprehend the written word at a increasing level of sophistication Score at a high level on a standardized, multiple-choice reading achievement test 2.              The primary purpose of school mathematics instruction is: Become proficient in the math necessary for everyday living and for entry-level employment Understand math concepts at increasing levels of sophistication allowing students to pursue careers in math, science engineering, or technology. Score high on a standardized, multiple-choice math achievement test 3.              The primary purpose of the public school is: Provide each child with a healthy, safe, supported...

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  • Kennewick School Board Meeting August 25, 2010 The most discussed issue of this meeting was planning for workshops. Workshops have been conducted at each of the district schools as an opportunity for building administration and staff to formally report standardized test scores to the board. In June four proposals were under consideration by the board. August 11 a fifth proposal was offered by Dawn Adams who later consulted with Dave Bond. Adams’ idea is to have district staff report instead to members of the community. This must happen soon so district administration will immediately select “influential” community “leaders” and train them to understand the data. These community members will meet with building administrators from the 14 elementaries and 7 or more secondary schools during September.

    School Board Report by Tom Staly

    Posted on August 30, 2010 | 1 Comment
    Kennewick School Board Meeting August 25, 2010 The most discussed issue of this meeting was planning for workshops. Workshops have been conducted at each of the district schools as an opportunity for building administration and staff to formally report standardized test scores to the board. In June four proposals were under consideration by the board. August 11 a fifth proposal was offered by Dawn Adams who later consulted with Dave Bond. Adams’ idea is to have district staff report instead to members of the community. This must happen soon so district administration will immediately select “influential” community “leaders” and train them to understand the data. These community members will meet with building administrators from the 14 elementaries and 7 or more secondary schools during September.

    Continue Reading...

  • The folks leading education in the U.S. today are corporatists who believe in quarterly reports, bottom line and accountability to pre-set standards.  But teaching is a funny profession.   Anyone who has spent a couple of years in a classroom with kids knows that instantaneous indicators of achievement like standardized test scores don’t mean much in the long term development of a student’s intellect.  As a former high school physics and chemistry teacher, I am more interested in indicators that hold up over time.  For a true-life example that just happened over the past 3 days, click  here to see what my student from the class of 1965 is still inquiring about.

    Kristine and Me

    Posted on August 6, 2010 | 2 Comments
    The folks leading education in the U.S. today are corporatists who believe in quarterly reports, bottom line and accountability to pre-set standards.  But teaching is a funny profession.   Anyone who has spent a couple of years in a classroom with kids knows that instantaneous indicators of achievement like standardized test scores don’t mean much in the long term development of a student’s intellect.  As a former high school physics and chemistry teacher, I am more interested in indicators that hold up over time.  For a true-life example that just happened over the past 3 days, click  here to see what my student from the class of 1965 is still inquiring about.

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  • Around the nation more and more people are concerned with the simplistic focus on narrow testing to provide the data to improve schools and to enhance the lives of children. The U.S. Senate recently held hearigs on the problem. Here is one person’s testimony. *Clare Struck, an elementary school guidance counselor from the Malcolm Price Laboratory School (PLS) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, advocated for a more student-centered, educator-supported, and instruction-driven education system at a Senate hearing held last week to learn more about meeting the needs of the whole child.

    Whole Child Testimony

    Posted on May 18, 2010 | 4 Comments
    Around the nation more and more people are concerned with the simplistic focus on narrow testing to provide the data to improve schools and to enhance the lives of children. The U.S. Senate recently held hearigs on the problem. Here is one person’s testimony. *Clare Struck, an elementary school guidance counselor from the Malcolm Price Laboratory School (PLS) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, advocated for a more student-centered, educator-supported, and instruction-driven education system at a Senate hearing held last week to learn more about meeting the needs of the whole child.

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