Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id hBEL7am26915; Sun, 14 Dec 2003 16:07:36 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 16:07:36 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <ca.25bb9161.2d0e2a07@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: MWPotts2001@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:2620] The state of standards X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Mac sub 39 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Status: O Content-Length: 2166 Lines: 66 Colleagues, The following article, from the PEN Weekly NEWSBLAST for 12/12, 2003 describes the state of standards for K-12 in several states. The issue seems to be that proficiency doesn't necessarily mean proficiency, and the levels of proficiency are not consistent across the country. No kidding? Well, perhaps they should take a look at the EFF Standards and the pathways to consistency and proficiency from the adult education perspective. THE STATE OF STANDARDS The federal No Child Left Behind act (NCLB) has required each state to set proficiency levels in mathematics and reading to categorize students as proficient or not. This legislation requires each state to set its own proficiency levels, but does not specify how these levels should be set, or what the definition of "proficiency" should be. This provides states with a great deal of autonomy, but raises questions concerning the consistency and comparability of proficiency results from different states. The Northwest Evaluation Association has recently completed a comprehensive, 14-state research report on state education standards, which confirms the concern of many regarding the current disparity in educational standards. While the detailed results vary from one study to the next, examination of the results from all studies leads to three general conclusions: (1) Proficiency standards among states differ enough to cause dramatic differences in the percentage of students categorized as proficient, even if the students have exactly the same skills; (2) Proficiency standards within individual states differ across grades enough that they may provide teachers with inconsistent proficiency indications for a large percentage of students; (3) Proficiency standards between subject areas within and across states differ enough that they may provide schools with inconsistent information when comparing proficiency of students in reading to proficiency of students in mathematics. Read an executive summary of the report findings at: http://www.young-roehr.com/nwea/ All the Best, Meta Potts, Moderator, 4-EFF List Glen Allen, VA mwpotts2001@aol.com
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