Hi again, yikes!  Guess this subject area strikes a chord in me!!

This is fine that a school or schools are raising their scores.  I want
to know HOW they are doing it.  That is the more important and
interesting question.  If they've done it by teaching to the test, I
personally find that devastating.  If they've done it another way, then
they need to be highly celebrated and they should help us understand
their approach so that it can be emulated elsewhere.

Marie Cora


-----Original Message-----
From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Laurie Sheridan
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 1:05 PM
To: RaceWomen and Literacy Discussion List The Poverty
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 1314] Re: NCLB

I don't know the name of the principal, either, but I do know that the
three relatively new high school located at the site of the old (and
problem-ridden) Dorchester High managed to raise MCAs scores
significantly over the past few years:  Tech Boston High and two others.


There was an article about this in the Sept. 28 Boston Globe, and also
on the Boston Public Schools web site.

Laurie

Laurie Sheridan, Workforce Development Coordinator
World Education/SABES Central Resource Center
44 Farnsworth St.
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 482-9485 
lsheridan at worlded.org
 
SABES:  Training Leaders in Adult Basic Education 



>>> Andrea Wilder <andreawilder at comcast.net> 10/4/2007 12:41 PM >>>

David,

Unfortunately the name  of the Boston principal who has raised MCAS 
scores has fallen out of my head, when I remember it I'll post it.

He and his teachers went over their curricula with a fine tooth comb, 
got it unsnarled, and articulated.  The teachers were upset that they 
kids scores were low.  Subsequent teaching raised the scores.

I have taught in a variety of schools, and I, as a teacher, have felt 
like tearing my hair out when "my'" kids did poorly.   A school with a 
motivated principal and motivated teachers--hence motivated kids--is a 
lovely thing, a real community and a team.

The case for NOT using standardized tests in schools is made by Deborah 
Meier.

Andrea
On Oct 4, 2007, at 11:57 AM, David J. Rosen wrote:


> Kearney,

>

> That's a very good question, definitely one for the assessment

> list:   Do the NCLB-sactioned assessments assess basic skills and

> knowledge? Do they do this well? Are these assessments valid?  Is a

> single, standardized indirect measure in itself valid for assessing

> basic skills ,or is it sometimes misleading.  Would the validity be

> increased if there were other, direct measures used, too.

>

> Some would argue that standardized tests are frequently misused. Fair

> Test, for example, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing --

> http://www.fairtest.org/  says it  "works to end the misuses and

> flaws of standardized testing and to ensure that evaluation of

> students, teachers and schools is fair, open, valid and educationally

> beneficial."  If high stakes standardized assessments such as the

> Massachusetts MCAS referred to here earlier -- I believe generally

> regarded as one of the better standardized basic skills tests -- are

> not giving a valid measure, then the 50% (disproportionately black,

> Latino and male) youth in the Boston Public Schools who fail them,

> are being unfairly discriminated against.  The assessment issue is

> then a social justice issue.

>

> The Massachusetts Department of Education several years ago did a

> test of the validity of one of the most widely used standardized

> assessments in adult basic education, the TABE. The correlation

> between what it measured and what the Massachusetts adult education

> content standards ("Curriculum Frameworks") said should be measured

> was so low (I think it was 50%) that the state invested a huge amount

> of money in developing its own valid and reliable standardized adult

> basic skills assessment. None of the other states, as far as I know,

> have been able to do that.  I wonder how the TABE -- or other

> standardized tests -- correlate with their approved state content

> standards and curriculum frameworks.  If these are not aligned, what

> exactly is being measured, and is this what should be measured? Big

> questions, and maybe not for this discussion list, except that tests

> discriminate (in good and bad ways) and we need to know if they

> measure what we think they are measuring and what we want to be

> measured. Maybe they aren't.

>

> David J. Rosen

> djrosen at comcast.net 

>

>

>

>

> On Oct 4, 2007, at 11:35 AM, Kearney Lykins wrote:

>

>> Katherine,

>>

>> You seem to be saying that there is a disconnect between "teaching

>> basic skills" and preparing students to demonstrate their knowledge

>> of the same. I don't get it.  Don't the NCLB-sanctioned assessments

>> assess basic skills and knowledge?

>>

>> / Kearney

>>

>>

>> ----- Original Message ----

>> From: Katherine G <Kgotthardt at comcast.net>

>> To: "The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy Discussion List"

>> <povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>

>> Sent: Thursday, October 4, 2007 11:16:39 AM

>> Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 1302] Re: NCLB

>>

>> Kearney, I've been wading in NCLB for the past week because of a

>> paper I am

>> writing, so I am going to jump into this conversation.

>>

>> First, impoverished schools that do not meet AYP have sanctions taken

>> against them.  These include everything from changes in management to

>> encouraging students to transfer to having the government take over

>> the

>> school. Sanctions have negative ramifications:  talented teachers

>> leave.

>> Remaining teachers face burnout.  Students are demoralized.  What

>> happens

>> when a first grader attends a school with sanctions?

>>

>> Second, students transfer.  When students transfer, they bring with

>> them

>> whatever they learned or didn't learn from their previous schools.

>> Teachers

>> can't always catch up or catch on to this until the student is late

>> into

>> high school, at which point, it's a little late to start addressing

>> problems

>> that needed to be addressed in middle school. Additionally, when

these

>> students don't pass a test, they can jeopardize AYP which leads

>> back to

>> sanctions.  It's a downward spiral.

>>

>>> From the research I've done and from having kids in elementary

>> school, I can

>> say it's the foundations that count.  This is no news to most of

>> you who

>> have worked in education, but in this day of testing, it has become

>> even

>> more apparent.

>>

>> Obviously, students who have not passed the tests in the K-8 will

>> have a

>> harder time passing them in 10-12.  But even worse, because NCLB is

>> encouraging "teaching to the test" because of threatened sanctions,

>> you have

>> students focusing on test taking and not learning basic skills in the

>> elementary and secondary levels.  If you want to read teachers'

>> perspective

>> on this, see

>> http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/ 

>> content_storage_01/0000019b/80

>> /29/dc/a0.pdf

>>

>> Just my two cents.

>>

>> Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, ESOL Online Instructor

>> Prince William County Public Schools

>> Adult Education

>> P.O. Box 389

>> Manassas, VA 20108

>> work 703-791-8387

>> fax 703-791-8889

>>

>> -----Original Message-----

>> From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov 

>> [mailto:povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of Kearney Lykins

>> Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 10:51 AM

>> To: The Poverty, Race,Women and Literacy Discussion List

>> Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 1301] Re: NCLB

>>

>>

>> Andrea,

>>

>> How does it "hit" poor kids and not rich kids? The test assesses

>> the basic

>> skills of everyone. Isn't it critical to know who has them and who

>> doesn't?

>> There is a very good reason basic skills are called basic skills:

>> we have

>> decided they are necessary. Don't the MCAS results tell schools where

>> remediation is called for, or where they should concentrate their

>> efforts?

>>

>> Kearney

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> ----- Original Message ----

>> From: Andrea Wilder <andreawilder at comcast.net>

>> To: Women and Literacy Discussion List The Poverty Race

>> <povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>

>> Sent: Wednesday, October 3, 2007 10:27:05 PM

>> Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 1294] NCLB

>>

>>

>> I said  to someone on the list that I would ask my cousin about her

>> impressions of the MCAS--the standardized test for graduation in MA.

>> Her opinion:  the MCAS is a series of basic skills tests that hits

>> poor

>> kids in poor schools. Richer kids in richer schools already know this

>> stuff and build on the basics year by year.  Teaching is

>> sequential, so

>> "teaching to the test" will not work if kids are already behind on

>> basic skills.  My niece does not study for the test, and no time is

>> given over to test prep at her public school.  My cousin is

>> multilingual and has many years of teaching ESOL.

>>

>> Andrea

>>

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>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

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>

> David J. Rosen

> djrosen at comcast.net 

>

>

>

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