Hi everyone,
 
I'm going to pick up where the discussion left off last week - we were
exploring some of the frustrations with standards, reported data, and
goals.
 
Several of you noted that because of the lack of national standards,
it's tough or next to impossible to compare performance across programs
or states.  Yet part of what the federal system does is compare states
to one another in terms of identifying recipients of things like
incentive grants and so forth.  States are required to report on how
they are able to show gain via pre and post test scores - but as Andrea
and Susan pointed out in their posts, there is no standardized method
for showing this gain - each state creates its own benchmarks.  
 
What can we do about this?  We need a national set of standards.  But
before that?  Jane noted that state standards should be indicated within
the submitted data - do any states do this?  (probably not because they
are not required).  Would this help?  Let's think this possibility
through a little...
 
Susan described several scenarios for us in which one aspect necessarily
must suffer in order for another aspect to be recognized (feel familiar
to you?).  I hear this lament constantly:  'so as a program director, do
I make sure my numbers work so I can continue to get funded to run my
program, or do I not compromise the integrity of the teaching/learning
process but run the risk of not showing good data?'  (and then my
program loses its funding, so integrity becomes a moot point).  However,
we must have an accountability system; I really don't believe anyone
wants to throw around money without real proof that it's not being
wasted.  One of you noted that reform then, must happen at the root - at
the NRS - what would that look like?
 
Varshna - you asked if the NRS/DOE requirements included data validation
as does DOLs requirements - not to my knowledge - but can anyone speak
to this question?  It's a good one.  Varshna - do you believe that such
data validation helps with the "apples/oranges" issue?  How so?
 
Finally, Katrina - you brought up the 'gaps in data' issue and cited the
"unanticipated" goals situation as an example.  This is also something
we need to address:  if a student changes a goal or achieves a goal that
was not specifically set at the outset of the learning process - this
happens all the time actually and is normal behavior:  shifting and
changing your goals based on your experience and progress can logically
happen during a learning process.  But often, these goals can get lost
or don't get counted or cannot be counted because our system does not
give us a way to show increments for example.  
 
What do we need?  National standards?  Is that the most important thing
that will help combat these issues?  
 
A different way to capture learning?  What would that look like?
Remember that the needs of the funder and public are quite different
than the needs of the teacher and student - and both are legitimate
needs.  
 
What are your thoughts on these issues?
 
Thanks,
marie cora
Assessment Discussion List Moderator
marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com <mailto:Marie.cora at hotsurpartners.com> 
 
 
 
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