Tennessee students' scores plunge as standards changed.

[madfloridian]

What are we doing to our students in the name of false "accountability"? These are the scores that affect promotion of students, teacher and principal hiring and firing, and grades for the schools themselves.

Where's the accountability for our Democratic leaders who are pushing these reforms with no proof that they work.

Failure rate tops 50% on tougher standards

More than half the students in Tennessee public schools failed state tests last spring based on new proficiency standards. Gov. Phil Bredesen warned state residents last week that the results would not be pretty.

Friday, the State Board of Education passed new "cut" scores for the state tests, retooled last year to match more rigorous curriculum and standards the state began adopting in 2007.

Based on the new scores, more than 52 percent of third-graders flunked math in the just-finished school year. And the news gets worse with each grade. In grade six, for instance, nearly 70 percent flunked math; in grade eight, 75 percent failed. Reading in most grades was slightly better, with the failure rate at 52 percent for fifth-graders and moving up to 57 percent for eighth-graders.

And why did this happen?

Assistant state commissioner of education Bruce Opie compares the new standards to moving the goalposts for a field-goal kicker.

"Last year, the kicker got 10 field goals. He only got three this year. He is still as good a kicker, but we set the bar back," he said.

Oh, really? And do you think that student will understand that though he is being called a failure that he really is not...he's just as good as he was last year? Really?

I blame parents and teachers who are allowing this administration to push through these reforms. They are hurting our children, and no one seems to care.

Howard Dean opposed these artificial standards, and he said this about NCLB in 2003. Looks like what he said about 2013 is going to happen.

Every school in America will be a failing school by 2013

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean on Sunday urged states to reject federal No Child Left Behind funding, and said he would if still governor of Vermont.

''It's going to cost them more in property taxes and other taxes than they are going to get out of it,'' Dean told The Associated Press following a campaign stop.

Earlier in the day, he told a crowd of teachers and supporters at Merrimack High School that ''Vermont would have been the first state to turn down that money'' if he still was governor.

Dean criticized President Bush, saying his administration will lower the standards for good schools in New Hampshire, making them more like poorly performing schools in Texas. The Bush administration believes "the way to help New Hampshire is to make it more like Texas," Dean told supporters in Manchester, adding that "every school in America by 2013 will be a failing school."

..."Yesterday, he called the law an "intrusive mandate" and said Democratic candidates who voted for it were "co-opted" by Bush's agenda, which Dean says aims to "put public schools out of business.

Obama's new revised NCLB may be called Race to the Top, but it is targeting public education.

Here is more from Schools Matters on the Tennessee test standards.

Children, Parents, and Teachers Pushed to the Bottom in "Race to the Top"

So the new mass failure, thank goodness, doesn’t have anything to do with all the video games or hours of TV watching that filled students’ time this summer. For the majority of children to become failures overnight, it took coordination from a set of policy recommendations by Achieve, Inc. (the education arm of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce’s Business Roundtable), a lame duck governor, Phil Bredesen, who sits as Co-Chair of Achieve, Inc., and a Tennessee State Board of Education willing to toe the line of the corporate education reformers who now run the U. S. Department of Education, which paid out $500 million to Tennessee last spring in the Race to the Top. In short, it is time for Tennessee school children, parents, and teachers to suffer the consequences of Tennessee’s acceptance of the RTTT money and corporate governance of schools.

To repeat that last sentence....

It is time for Tennessee school children, parents, and teachers to suffer the consequences of Tennessee’s acceptance of the RTTT money and corporate governance of schools.

Jim Horn then turns to who in the world would want to make these changes that cause such mass failures of kids?

Well, think about it. Whose interests are served in expanding failure on a grand scale? Could it be the charter school CEOs of the CMOs and the EMOs will have years more of school turnaround opportunities? Will lower scores benefit the corporate enemies of the teaching profession like Gates and Broad and the Business Roundtable, especially since job security and pay in Tennessee, thanks to the RTTT deal, are now to be determined significantly by test scores? Will standardized testing remain the reason we have schools for another generation of children who, meanwhile, become less capable of thinking as a result? Will the general public remain distracted by the continuing "failure" of schools while the oligarchy continues to ship our jobs and wealth abroad? As Bracey notes at the end of a 2007 op-ed at WaPo, “A Test Everyone Will Fail,”

"If the fear-mongers can scare you sufficiently (how many times have you heard the phrase "failing schools" in the past five years?), you might permit them to do to your public schools things you would otherwise never allow."

Well-said, Gerald Bracey, well-said. May you rest in peace.

What you warned about is happening faster. For want of money all are permitting them to do things to our schools which we at one time would never have allowed.

Now Tennessee joins New York City as they declare more and more of their students, teachers, and schools to be failures.

[femmocrat]

1. I beg to disagree with you on this statement:

"I blame parents and teachers who are allowing this administration to push through these reforms. They are hurting our children, and no one seems to care."

1. Teachers DO care. Our voices are being ignored by this administration. We are not "allowing" this to happen. We are being steam-rolled too.

2. Parents DO care. They are simply not well-informed on what is actually happening. They are being told that this reform is the best thing for their children's future. The administration is not being honest with parents about the ramifications of "accountability", RTTT, and all the teacher firings. The politicians are dangling a ton of money in front of school boards and they do not have the expertise to evaluate the effects on the curriculum and learning.

Everything else in the post seems to be spot-on. K&R

[madfloridian]

2. Most care. Many are not willing to fight.

I agree many are starting to understand now where before they did not.

Teachers get marked down if they speak out too much, so I do understand that as well.

I understand and agree that most care, but soon it will be too late.

[havocmom]

3. Parents SAY they care, but too many do not back up teachers

Too many do not provide home environments which prepare kids to do well in school or keep them doing well at school. Society in general is not doing what is required to raise children and society includes some pretty lazy, excuse making parents.

[dotymed]

37. I agree femmocrat.

My Daughter graduates college this year and she will embark on her chosen career as a H.S. teacher.
I tell her that she will be so disappointed because of the restrictions that will be placed on her actual teaching. I taught for a short while, before standardized testing was the norm. The money I earned versus the hours I put in, plus all of the crap from parents and some students (the ones who did not want to learn) encouraged me to join the carpenters Union. Carpentry was my second "love", my first was the "light" that appeared in a students eye when they actually understood a new concept. After my Father was disabled (due to hereditary heart disease) and forced to retire as an Army pilot, he substitute taught for a few years also.
I tell my Daughter that since she "has the calling" to teach, (it has to be a calling, she is a Presidential Scholarship recipient who has a 3.9+ G.P.A. and could earn real money in another profession) she should at least become a Teacher on a military base. There she would have job security and higher pay because of the Federal Employees Union.
She wants to teach in under-privileged areas, which makes me very proud, but unfortunately, I fear she will be "burned out" in a year. She would succeed at almost any profession. She could even be a model if she weren't short like her parents. Oh well....live and learn.

[AC_Mem]

49. disagree as well - Memphis here

I must disagree on this from the prospective of a (co)parent in Tennessee. Yes, we were warned that the test scores would not look good this time because the standards are changing in scoring AND in teaching. We were glad for the warning. What this tells me is that our standards were not where they needed to be for our children's education and that "no child left behind" which is active in the Tennessee school system that my grandchildren attend, does not work. If the current standard does not meet what is now expected, then the school system needs to change what and how they are teaching. Wanting a better education for our children is a GOOD thing.

My grandchildren and their mom (my daughter) live with me. We are fully engaged with their education and do everything that is expected from the class curriculum as well as volunteer in the classrooms and are active members of the PTA.

No child left behind caused teachers to promote children that should have been held back. I have encountered teachers that are really good and creative and bring out the best in the kids. I have also encountered teachers who actively promoted having children in their classes medicated. Putting better standards in the Tennessee school systems is going to be a good thing that we need badly.

[johnaries]

80. Same here in Cheatham Cty. nt.

[roody]

85. Standards are great, but how does one

multiple choice tricky test show all kids' mastery of the subject matter?

[roody]

84. I am a teacher, and we are complicit in our own demise.

We administer the tests and a teacher is the site test coordinator in my district.

[Clovis Sangrail]

4. is this the same standard other states use? /nt

[femmocrat]

5. Every state has its own set of standards.

National Standards are being proposed (by Duncan maybe??), but none have been adopted yet. States are resistant to give up "local control" when it comes to curricula. (Texas is a good example.)

[madfloridian]

6. I doubt it. TN got the first RTTT funds. Means obligations.

[pscot]

7. On the other hand, one has to wonder

If Tennessee's schools are failing en bloc, maybe they really are sub-par. I'm opposed the the testing regime establish by Bush, but it's not clear to me that that's driving this particular debacle. I don't feel like I have enough informstion to understand what's going on in Tennessee..

[Clovis Sangrail]

8. I suppose one way to tell

would be looking at students from Tn public schools that take entrance exams for higher education and comparing their results to those of students from other states taking the same test.

I don't know much about this subject and I'm actually kind of surprised that there isn't some sort of standardized test.
I seem to recall that when I was in school we had standardized tests every year (maybe they were just state??)
that tested basic skills and ranked students by grade level ... "your reading comprehension is at X grade level"

on edit:
ok... I guess that wouldn't really work because it wouldn't test high school students it would test the subset that wants to go to university.
I looked and Tennessee has a higher average SAT score than Ca, but the percentage of students who take it is way lower.

[madfloridian]

17. The problem is that the only evaluation that counts is ONE test score.

They have thrown teacher-made tests out the window. They might as well have thrown a teachers' gradebook out the window.

It all comes down to one test on which they keep changing the standards.

And they are getting away with it.

[Clovis Sangrail]

32. but isn't that valid to some point?

yes, a test on the same subject can be made more or less difficult ... but in most cases it seems there should be some commonality that can be reached an is impartial.

ie: arithmetic
how can a math test on a subject a student is supposed know be skewed?
(aside from word problems)
if they are supposed to know multiplication of whole numbers it really shouldn't matter *what whole numbers you ask them to multiply.

[madfloridian]

34. Well, of course, if that is what you think .

I guess I could explain the standards used by teachers in end of lesson tests, how there is accountability every day for students and teachers....but your definition of learning is more shallow than mine and nothing I say would matter at all.

You seem to think in terms of math being impartial...that is not the point.

I have written a lot, but nothing sinks in here.

I think they should start over, fire the teachers and principal, close the schools, and send the kids wherever their parents will drive them each day.

It will make the inevitable quicker.

[Clovis Sangrail]

68. not more shallow ... more precise

Expecting somebody to know X when they are supposed to know a particular subject isn't a "more shallow" understanding of learning.
There might be debate over what questions to ask but no matter *what is asked it's the same thing.
(or are you saying we should do away with tests all together?)

It's pretty cut and dry in some situations (math/science/history)
- .35 x 1.8
- The atomic number of Mg
- When was the Treaty of Versailles signed

... these things don't have multiple possible answers.
Either the person knows them or doesn't.

I readily admit that doesn't work in analyzing a poem or debugging a program but that's not what I'm talking about.
It's perfectly valid to expect a kid of X grade to have certain quantifiable knowledge

[madfloridian]

71. All knowledge is not testable nor is it quantifiable.

We are becoming a nation that has no compassion for human differences, especially where students are concerned.

[Clovis Sangrail]

72. mathmatical errors != "human differences" /nt

[roody]

87. What if a child knows but cannot see the scantron

clearly---which is separate from the test booklet?

[sulphurdunn]

48. If I've read this correctly, Tennessee has not made a tougher test.

It has not changed its curriculum. It has merely raised the pass rate on the Tennessee Comprehensive Achievement Program) TCAP. There are also validity and reliability issues with tests. For instance, a test designed to measure the multiplication of whole numbers will not give an accurate score for that skill if it contains fractions, other operations or levels of complexity not covered in the curriculum. Such errors on state standardized tests are more common than you might think.

[roody]

88. How about giving them a page of whole

number multiplication rather than a scantron?

[roody]

86. As a teacher, I would test math by giving kids a

math problem and having them work it out showing all work, not filling in one bubble with the other three a very similar answer. This is not in Obama's plan.

[Joe Fields]

47. Let me pose this question to you.

If teachers and students are graded on one test score, then really, what is the problem here? If the teachers are aware of that fact, (and I am sure that they are) then if they teach the subject matter that is going to be on that test, again I say, what is the problem?

You, as an administrator tell me, as a teacher that I must teach A,B, C, because that is going to be what the students are tested on. So I, as a teacher, teach my students A,B,C. For the third time I ask, just what is the problem here?


When my father went to school, he was taught by wrote. In other words, he was told to memorize all kinds of things. He was tested by standard tests. He did very well. Same for me. Personally, I think you are tilting at windmills.

[madfloridian]

50. Get back to me...

on the "rote". I have presented my case many times.

If you agree that a private company unregulated can devise a test that is good enough that they don't have to keep changing the cut point....then I don't know how to argue with that.

[Joe Fields]

59. Are you telling me, unequivicably, that some of these schools

change the subject matter for these tests more than once a year for the students and teachers? If so, please provide some proof.

Otherwise, ...

[madfloridian]

60. I have no idea what in the world you are talking about.

I have tried to understand your comments, but I can't.

Backing off, doesn't pay to argue here.

[Joe Fields]

64. WTF? I don't speak in riddles.

[Hannah Bell]

76. "unequivocally" = minus another 10 points.

ps: i don't normally correct people's spelling & grammar on discussion forums, just people who tout standardized tests as the sole measure of achievement & talk about how well they & their father before them did on such tests.

[sulphurdunn]

51. I think you've answered your own question.

"Standardized tests can't measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. What they can measure and count are isolated skills, specific facts and function, content knowledge, the least interesting and least significant aspects of learning."
— Bill Ayers<15>

Educators and parents are no tilting at windmills. They are fighting real dragons. We are losing because too many people look at dragons and see windmills.

[Joe Fields]

66. Bullshit.

There are subject matter to be taught by teachers. It is their job to inspire the students to learn that required subject matter. It is up to parents to inspire the kids to be creative, to use their imagination and to spark their curiosity.

You have a flawed concept of what a teachers job is.

[sulphurdunn]

69. Fascinating.

What does this statement have to do with your original question? How does it square with your original position that if teachers would just teach 1,2,3,A,B,C and kids took 1,2,3,A,B,C multiple choice tests all would be well because it worked for you? It seems fairly obvious from what you've said and how you said it that it didn't work so well for you. :dunce:

[proud2BlibKansan]

73. LOL!

[Hannah Bell]

75. "rote". that's -10 points on your test.

[dotymed]

38. I grew up as an "Army Brat"

whose "home base" was in Tn. We travelled extensively. This has been decades ago. It always seemed to me that Tn. schools were much harder than the other states schools, including the military (federal) schools I attended.
I will soon find out if my Freshman Son agrees. We recently moved to Tn. and he starts school next week...

[madfloridian]

10. Well, hell, let's just assume all schools are failing...

the powers that be keep changing standards in the middle of it all. They don't how to evaluate real learning....so hey let's assume all are failing.

Then we can just fire all the teachers and principals, sent the kids to charters or to private schools with vouchers.

Make it quicker and less painful.

[LooseWilly]

31. Maybe the schools are failing... or maybe the new test is asinine...

I could write a standardized English test that would fail nearly every student in the 10th grade or lower, and probably half those in 11th and 12th... And I could probably put together an unreasonable math test as well. Just because the new test catches the teachers and the students flatfooted doesn't mean that the teachers are failing... I remember a differential equations midterm where the curve had a 37% scoring a C+... but I don't think these "standardized tests" are graded on a curve... without the curve, that midterm would've failed 90% of the class...

[Kalyke]

45. Follow this page frequently

http://www.teateachers.org/

I go there to see what's really up versus what the government is telling me.

[johnaries]

9. As a Tennessean, the previous standards were set WAY too

low. For years, rather than trying to improve they simply lowered the standards. That's why we were rated so low as compared to the rest of the country (usually in the bottom 10).

[madfloridian]

11. Then why did your state get Arne's money and get bragged on by Arne.

I think all states have fought to keep getting funds.

[johnaries]

18. Ah, hello, didn't you just post about the "new standards"?

Those new standards are part of the plan to fix the problems here in TN. And the TN Educators Assoc (TEA) sgined off on it thanks to a compromise they reached with Gov Bredesen on student/teacher evaluations:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/jan/13/tea-drops-opposition-to-race-to-the-top/

A major sticking point in debate has been a decision on how much weight to give student testing data in evaluating teachers. Bredesen had previously insisted that results from the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System should count for 50 percent of an evaluation score. The teachers union had insisted on no more than 35 percent.

Under the compromise announced Wednesday after lengthy negotiations, the "student growth data" from value-added testing will be the basis for 35 percent of an evaluation.

Another 15 percent will be based on other "student performance" information.

Education Commissioner Tim Webb said there will be multiple potential sources for the 15 percent, ranging from ACT scores to "portfolio assessments of student work."

Although I personally wish that a higher percentage were based on those "other" factors, I am proud of TEA for insisting on it to help avoid "teaching to the test". I am also proud of our Dem governor for working so hard to help solve our state's educational problems, just like he worked so hard to fix TennCare.

[madfloridian]

23. Have you read up on value-added testing?

What about the students' classroom grades from the teacher?

What about their portfolio?

What about classroom test to determine subject mastery?

Does all that count only 15%?

Look up value added testing and analyze it.

[pscot]

12. That's what I was wondering about

Given that 47% of the public believes god created the earth within the last 10,000 years, it seems obvious that some of our public schools aren't quite up to snuff.

[madfloridian]

14. That's what I said. Assume all schools are failing, make it quicker.

Just fire all the teachers at once, and send the kids to charter or private schools.

I am amazed at how easily it's all happening.

Am I sarcastic, a little maybe.

But what I see at DU about the way the administration is treating children is shocking to me.

[johnaries]

20. Well, I don't know how it is in FL, but here in TN we have some

really good schools and a LOT that are failing our students. In some cases, the local school boards are a large part of the problem since they are often politically motivated rather than geared towards actually helping the students. We have many excellent teachers that deserve to be paid more, and we have many terrible tenured teachers that should be "allowed to pursue other opportunities". TN students deserve better than what they have been receiving.

And, after all, the students are the most important thing.

[Hannah Bell]

22. but charters aren't "politically motivated". stop, you're killing me.

the "readjustment" WAS DONE BY FOR-PROFIT TESTING CORPORATIONS.

[Kalyke]

46. Johnaires didn't say anything about charters.

He/she was just pointing out that politics surrounding Tennessee school boards have, in many cases, hindered student education, which is true.

Other problems are: lack of funding to rural and inner-city schools (suburban schools in the cities do just fine in Tennessee. I know, I send my children to one) and lack of commitment on the part of parents, either because they won't do it, don't know how to do it or can't do it since they're having to work 60+ hours to make ends meet.

[Hannah Bell]

77. lol. charters & school takeovers are the proposed solution to school boards.

under the terms of rttt.

but that's not political, no siree-bob!

just lots of nice good people trying to do the best for students!

rofl.

the fetid miasma of sorry apologetics is suffocating me.

[madfloridian]

24. No, to this administration the students are NOT most important.

They give lip service to that but their actions give them away.

[sulphurdunn]

58. The kids of Tennessee deserves better

than what they're getting from this bargain with the devil, but they won't get it now. The adults certainly deserve what they're going to get.

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." H.L Mencken

[johnaries]

79. Actually, yes they will get better.

It's the first time that there has been state-wide attention to this issue. For decades, people here wrung their hands and wailed "how terrible" but no-one ever DID anything about it.

Now, for the first time, we actually have a PLAN. And the fact that standards are stricter is the first indication of the plan being implemented.

NOW, we have a realistic baseline from which to work. Even if we didn't receive the RtTT funds, this was the best thing that could have happened for the kids of TN.

[sulphurdunn]

83. If things get better

it won't be because any research exists that supports this PLAN anymore than there exists empirical data to equate teacher performance or student learning with standardized test scores. Race to the trough money is a political bribe to aid and abet the privatization of public education, primarily in states with high urban poverty rates. Tennessee ranks 12th worst nationally for child poverty and your neighbor Virginia ranks 47th. Virginia has pretty much taken a pass on RTTT bribes. This is no accident. How poverty and state spending rank as an indicator of school achievement and correlates positively with every other data profile is something you should research before climbing aboard this bandwagon. Facts do matter. I apologize for that snarky quote from Mencken.

[donco6]

81. If they kept lowering the standards, wouldn't their scores have been higher?

:shrug:

[roxiejules]

13. It is All about CONTROL

The game is rigged and so are the tests.....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050202004_pf.html

A Test Everyone Will Fail

...And it turns out that only one-third of those high-flying Swedish kids would be considered proficient readers; the NAEP figure for U.S. fourth-graders was 29 percent. The great majority of the remaining countries would have fewer proficient students than the United States. Using the NAEP standard, no country comes close to having a majority of proficient readers.

The numbers are useful as scare techniques. If you can batter people into believing the schools are in awful shape, you can make them anxious about their future -- and you can control them.

The most recent phony alarm comes from Eli Broad and Bill Gates, who are putting up $60 million hoping to "wake up the American people." If the fear-mongers can scare you sufficiently (how many times have you heard the phrase "failing schools" in the past five years?), you might permit them to do to your public schools things you would otherwise never allow.


***************

Can anyone say Shock Doctrine?

[Starry Messenger]

15. Exactly.

This whole "crisis" is BS.

[madfloridian]

16. Exactly. There is no crisis. This is all Reagan-speak...

His Nation at Risk report, though faulty, really impacted education forever.

[roxiejules]

19. btw: I really enjoy your journal

Keep up the good work.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

25. Thank you.

I think I anger a lot of people, but I can't worry about that. What they are doing to the emotions and confidence of students is outrageous, and it needs to be talked about.

:hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. And no matter how much better the schools get, there will always be a bottom 5%

The numbers game being played here is quite repulsive.

[adnelson60087]

40. Roxie, thanks for the link. It is very telling!

[roxiejules]

54. Soon the dots will start to connect themselves...

12-Step Method to Close Down Public Schools: http://www.indypendent.org/2010/01/29/bloombergs-12-step-method/

The Faces of School Reform: http://www.indypendent.org/2010/01/29/faces-of-school-reform/

Charter Schools’ New Cheerleaders: Financiers: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/nyregion/10charter.html

School For Scandal: http://www.schooltechconnect.com/2010/05/school-for-scandal.html

:)

You're welcome, adnelson

[madfloridian]

55. The School for Scandal link is a good one.

I don't believe any Secretary of Education has ever had this much discretionary money. Arne himself once said it was more than the 3.4 billion, more like 10 billion. He was bragging.

[Hannah Bell]

21. these people are fucking locusts. rape & pillage, scorched earth, take no prisoners.

they're going to kill us all.

i can't say how much i despise the bloated fucks.

[Radical Activist]

26. Could you explain how Obama's RTTT is to blame for what happened under NCLB?

You switch right back and forth so quickly when talking about both that it appears you're trying to merge criticism of the two plans. This slight of hand tactic is something you do in all of your posts about RTTT. For example, quoting Bill Gates and then going back to Obama, as though they agree on everything.

So, I'm inviting you to clear up two things.
1) Do you challenge the assertions in the article that Tennessee's tests were too easy and intentionally dumbed down?
2) Is it your intention to blame Obama for something that happened as a direct result of Bush's NCLB?

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. ALL the tests are being dumbed down, not just Tennessee

The biggest problem with Obama's plan is that it is Bush's plan on steroids. Instead of the reform he promised, he just made NCLB worse. Oh he changed the name, but it is still a plan that will destroy our education system.

The numbers game being played here is despicable and I am blown away by how few see through it. 100% of our kids will never be proficient, that's impossible. And no matter how well they do perform there will always be a bottom 5%. Who is going to want to teach those children when the end result is losing your job?

The reform should be abolishing NCLB and ensuring every child has the right to a free and appropriate public education in their local community.

[Radical Activist]

30. But the new tests aren't dumbed down

like the old ones that were put in place under NCLB. The tests are being smarted up. That's the whole point of the article and the new reforms. So I don't see the point you're making by claiming that they're all being dumbed down.

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Oh yes they are

And they play with the numbers as well to make it look as if the scores are higher thatn they actually are. One of our charters had only 17% of its kids score Proficient but under new federal regs, the charter makes AYP because 17% is better than their score from last year.

Someone finally realized that it is impossible for 100% of our kids to be Proficient. But instead of changing that, they're playing numbers games to make it look like the kids are doing better than they are.

The really ridiculous part is that looking at one test taken on one day is not an accurate means of detemining achievement. But along with the unrealistic 100% mandate, they just turn the other way and look at another shiny thing.

[madfloridian]

35. Yes, they play with numbers to get whatever result they want.

[Radical Activist]

56. So you agree with Duncan.

RTTT promotes using a uniform standard. In this case, TN switched to a test used nationally. Won't that stop much of the monkeying around that you're writing about?

It looks like Duncan agrees with your second point.

http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/quiet-revolution-secretary-arne-duncans-remarks-national-press-club

Teachers also worry that under new systems, their job security and salaries will be tied to the results of a bubble test that is largely disconnected from the material they are teaching. So let me clear: no one thinks test scores should be the only factor in teacher evaluations, and no one wants to evaluate teachers based on a single test on a single day.

But looking at student progress over the course of year, in combination with other factors like peer review and principal observation can lead to a culture shift in our schools where we finally take good teaching as seriously as the profession deserves.

We also agree that the current generation of assessments don't really measure critical thinking skills and that testing only for reading and math ignores many other important subjects. Over-emphasis on tested subjects narrows the curriculum if teachers and principals believe that the only way to show student progress is to teach to the test.

[Hannah Bell]

78. rttt is an extension of nclb. they're not two entirely distinct programs.

[snake in the grass]

27. And the dumbing down continues.

It makes it easier to control the drones. Here's another bucket of feces, they're trying to pass off as a bucket of gold.

Take a deep breath, people. The change is in the air!

Thank you, madfloridian.

[ThomWV]

36. I'm afraid I don't get your point

are you saying we have failed in educating our children or are you saying our failure is in catering to nationalized testing in our schools?

[madfloridian]

39. Too much reliance on one high-stakes test.

I see that most don't agree, and most think kids are doing worse. So nothing I post really matters in the large scheme of things.

Obama and Arne are bringing the dreams of Bush and Gingrich to fruition...the dream of free market schools. But first the schools need to fail.

[Joe Fields]

61. If public schools and teachers were doing a better job,

there would not be a groundswell of support for charter schools. You are your own worst enemy. Address the problem of inadequate teachers, and that would be a good starting point. But on this site, the mere mention of a problem with teacher inadequacy sparks a "circle the wagons" mode.

[montanto]

41. Blame teachers? Really?

I don't think you can go so far as to blame teachers and parents. Speaking for teachers, you know we still have bowels, right? We can't simply lay down our tools until government listens. Not only have we been speaking, but we have been yelling and screaming too. Even the voices of all teaches raised in unison will not be enough to get the administration, bent as it is on fulfilling its own agenda, to attend. I can't speak so well for parents, though I do know many who are in the fight. I suppose many are relatively docile however, not to say apathetic. I can say for sure that of the many teachers I know, I don't know any who don't care. In this case you've blamed the victim.

[madfloridian]

44. Before I retired I tried to point out Jeb's goal to my fellow teachers...

here in this Republican district. I was told by the principal that I was not to criticize Jeb at the teachers' lunch table anymore..I upset too many.

I put most of the blame on the administration that is pushing Bush's goals, but the teachers and parents have been silent and let the kids suffer through this mindless testing way way too long.

They either fight now or not at all.

[Spike89]

42. Starve 'em for air and point to their flailing as proof that they are failing

Although the kids aren't failing at the levels being thrown around, the state of education is purposefully made to seem grim. Ironically, when teachers complain about low pay, having to teach to the test, and poor parenting--these problems just get lumped in with the hyped negativity from the forces that want public education dead. The reality is that parents hear "the schools aren't working" and the reasons simply aren't important (or understandable) to them, not when it is a complex issue and so many experts seem to saying "Charter schools and standardized testing will fix everything."

I don't have the answer, but we are certainly near the point where even the fiercest proponents of public education are beginning to despair.

[Kalyke]

43. My kid passed them - but he's exceptionally smart, so

he's not the standard-bearer here at all.

However, if his test scores stall - well, even if they don't - I'll be explaining this to him so he'll know it's the test, not him.

[cjbgreen]

52. I can't believe we will willingly turn our children over to these people!

We really want corporations to decide what is in the interest of our children when they have never demonstrated a concern or an advocacy for not exploiting the American Public? We really want Board Members who are not from the community but are CEO's or management from corporations. We really want to give tax credits to these people to open schools that are at the best no better and at least 50% worse than public schools. We really want no control over class size, curriculum, etc. but want the manufacturers of tests to make that determination. We really do not care if one person has the say over education in a process that is suppose to prepare our children to be citizens and participants in a democratic process. We really believe that a failure of this society to address health care, foreclosures, job loss, lack of adequate nutrition has no impact on what happens in our schools? We as a society believe that we scapegoat a system that suffers because there is little or no consistent funding and constant changing of expectations and we seriously believe this is about accountability simplistically defined as how students perform on tests given once during a school year? Seriously how can anyone with a brain believe this! Seriously!

[Dappleganger]

53. Follow the money.

What testing companies give money to which congress critters.

[cjbgreen]

57. Not just corporations how about a little religion

This from New Orleans:

"Operating under the auspices of Metropolitan Ministries, the academy typically receives approximately 78 percent of its operating funds from federal programs and state and local per-pupil allocations.3 As with most charter schools,however, these allocations do not cover the academy’s total operating expenses. To fill the funding gap and enable staff to provide the comprehensive supports and services that residentially displaced students need, the academy leverages community-wide support to target philanthropic donors, form and strengthen community and corporate partnerships, and acquire in-kind resources.
The academy’s association with Metropolitan Ministries is critical in this process, because much of the community support the charter school receives is a byproduct of Metropolitan Ministries’ community-wide popularity. In establishing and maintaining this support, Metropolitan Ministries and, by extension, the academy, have adopted a “give first, ask second” philosophy. In other words, the organization and school first provide services to a given entity, such as the local school district or local media; fortify a trustworthy relationship; and then seek resources in return."
http://www.charterresource.org/files/Leveraging_Community_Partnership-MetroMinistrie.pdf

What happened to separation of church and state?

[Dappleganger]

62. Separation of church and state, just an unfortunate phrase.

*sarcasm*

It's sad to learn that what is happening in FL wrt funding religious schools w/public school money is also occurring in the still sensitive (due to rebuilding) NO school system. These people are taking advantage of the MONEY and the desperation of parents trying to give their child a better education. Most parents I believe have no idea that charter schools are doing this to the public schools. It's about stealing money from the PS which needs to be FIXED and also giving our taxpayer dollars to "christian" schools. What if they diverted funds to muslim schools. Hmmm, somehow I doubt that would go over too well.

BTW, I'm a christian and this really pisses me off!

[One_Life_To_Give]

63. Can't get where you are going

If you don't know where you are.

These exams are intended to tell the Community/Electorate where the pupils within a school are.
Which also means it's a highly political tool as it can affect the Education Budget, Top Administrators salaries etc.

As a body public we expect a good education value to be provided for our tax dollars. That those graduating high school have certain proficiencies in Math, English, Science, History, etc. And like any supervisor when we become concerned that the finished product might not be hitting the mark we expect. We start to micro-manage and expect intermediate report cards.

But when the Test Authors decree that 50% lack proficiency in subject X. Aside from alarming, most of us don't know what that means. Did the students fail history because they couldn't identify George Washington or because they couldn't name his Chief of Staff?

We old timers meet one kid who can't make change during a power failure, and assume the whole Public Ed system has gone to hell in a hand-basket. Sure that Social Promotion must have become the dominant form within the system. Yet forget that test writers and administrators may have their own bias's and/or agenda's. To understand where the kids really are and how good or bad the School system is doing we need to understand the tests themselves. And I can't think of a better way than to have a National review of the exams/goals for grade level and to have the most recent tests published online for parents and the community at large to attempt and directly determine what is being demanded of the students.

[anigbrowl]

67. but the tests are online

I too was curious. So I looked them up. It took me about 30 seconds.

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrlsx/landing.aspx

[cjbgreen]

70. Assessment is important!

The question is who is deciding and what kinds of assessment and what is important for children to learn and we need to use the data to revise, reteach and identify how well a group is learning and how best to teach. If you don't provide people time to learn how to use the data to improve their teaching what value is it? Sometimes it is as simple as an item was not taught before the test was administered but was taught later in the year. There are many variables and using assessment as a sledge hammer is not the answer. I think we are in agreement.

[walldude]

65. Don't worry Tennesee's next Governor will fix it all...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hvaeHllwtw

[cjbgreen]

74. Hey if he loses ..

He can run for mayor and we'll give him complete control of schools in Memphis!

[SoxFan]

82. Yes, we hate children. We get it.

Anything else you'd care to share?

[roody]

89. If the legislators had to take these tests, or

offered to take them so they know what they are talking about, we would see a change in their attitudes.

[woo me with science]

90. *Of course* the failure rate increased if the standards were tightened.

You are coming dangerously close to arguing that we should LOWER standards, because then more kids will succeed.

Why not just give everyone an A, and then nobody will have to touch the schools at all!

[MyOwnPeace]

91. Free Ad.............

Since Joe likes to advertise his own book that he "rote" - I can only wish he'd read THIS one, written by the late Gerald W. Bracey:

Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality - Transforming the Fire Consuming America's Schools

As a sample, consider these personal qualities:

Creativity - Critical thinking - Resilience - Motivation - Persistence - Curiosity - Inquisitiveness - Endurance - Reliability - Enthusiasm - Civic-mindedness - Self-awareness - Self-discipline - Leadership - Compassion - Empathy - Courage - Imagination - Sense of humor - Resourcefulness - Humility

Which of these would you feel is not important for your child (or America's children) to have? Well, we don't "test" for them, do we? Yet we hear that we "need to compete globally" and NCLB depresses creativity both in kids and teachers. Oh, and the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report for 2007-2008 ranks the U.S. as number one in creativity among 131 nations (well, I guess that's one thing that we're not failing, huh?).

This is just a sample of a "must-read" book - well worth the look.