stupid in Brookline

In what may be the most innovative attempt to measure student progress in the state, Brookline officials recently unveiled a two-year effort to supplement the pencil-and-paper testing provided by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System with in-classroom activities that cover a broader range of topics and skills.

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Junior high school science teachers have developed an assessment to measure skills in inquiry and data analysis, which are not measured by MCAS. Seventh-graders are presented with an activity involving a bouncing ball, while eighth-graders use a pendulum for their assessment, and how the students collect and analyze the results is graded according to guidelines that are shared by all of their teachers.

The resulting discussion among the teachers, according to Mark Goldner, a Heath School science teacher, explored the students' poor results in making sense of their data and how the teachers could deepen understanding of these skills.

In the past, Brookline officials have taken a strong stand against what they see as the narrowing focus by schools statewide to meet MCAS-tested standards, and the high-stakes requirement that students pass the MCAS to graduate from high school.

[snip]

The new assessment system was constructed when teams of teachers, grouped by subject and grade, explored how to capture evidence of such learning.

Fischer-Mueller said Brookline officials read a lot of research on assessments and their role in closing the achievement gap, and look at what other schools are doing. "But we don't just transfer, we translate for what will work well in Brookline to get the results we want," she said.

note: They "read a lot of research."

Were any of them trained in assessment and psychometrics?

No.

Did any of them go back to college and take a course or two in assessment and psychometrics?

No.

Has the public been provided a bibliography of the "research" these educators read?

No.

They read a lot of research, then spent hours of their time cooking up whole new tests to give their students on top of the state tests the kids already have to take. If you want your child to be tested and assessed all the livelong day, move to Brookline!

Brookline's fancy new tests will enable ^* Brookline teachers to send home report cards assessing the whole child, not just the child's knowledge of math, science, social studies, and ELA.

Here in Irvington we're way ahead of the game. Our Comments Bank [see here for sample Comment Bank including Positive and Negative Comments!] allows teachers to punch in a code that prints out such Comment-Bank gems as "finds subject matter difficult" or "inferential thinking needs improvement" on Quarterly Report Cards and Interim Reports. Lucky us. As a teacher told us this week, "Parents want to know these things."

Yes, indeed. Prefab essentializing comments about your child's innate cognitive abilities: so much more authentic than a simple B or C.

The public got its first extended look at the system during the School Committee's Jan. 3 meeting, where members praised the assessment presentations.

The public. Just getting its first extended look.

That rings a bell.

"This is such a culture change," chairwoman Judy Meyers said. "When I came to the School Committee eight years ago, there were pockets of excellence in individual schools, but no learning together and sharing what we knew. The whole approach has changed."

[snip]

"We are mining MCAS data as well," Stone said. "But we put analysis and critical thinking in our learning expectations, and we must have a way to assess that. Paper-and-pencil tests just do not give us all we need."

More tests, please!

Because of state and national requirements, the paper-and-pencil tests aren't going away. But Brookline officials have long maintained that their existing curriculum is more than adequate, and students don't receive any special MCAS preparation. The new system won't demand significantly more time from students or teachers, officials said, but will provide a common way of measuring the performance of the district's teachers, students, and schools.

So....the new tests won't take any more time because a) we don't count the time we spent cooking up the tests, presenting the tests to the public, and flogging the tests in the education press and b) we're also going to ignore the time the kids spend taking the new tests and the teachers spend giving the new tests.

et voila

More tests in the same amount of time.

Board member and MCAS supporter Alan Morse questioned whether the science-inquiry assessment might interfere with students' ability to perform well on the MCAS science tests.

"No," said Sue Zobel, a Lincoln School science teacher. "A lot of us are coming out of mourning over MCAS and losing the inquiry strand because the test is a mile wide and an inch deep. We've been wanting to restore inquiry to science."

Superintendent Bill Lupini concurred.

"This doesn't just inform instruction, it's fun and motivational," he said of the new assessments. "In a lot of cases, it's using time a different way, rather than taking more time. These aren't assessments where you stop learning for a big test. You could argue that it is instruction: It's real-world learning."

In looking beyond MCAS, district seeks a sharper view
By Andreae Downs
Globe Correspondent / January 13, 2008

I have a suggestion.

Let's assess the fun and motivational part. Let's find out just how fun and motivational students find these fun and motivational non-tests. Then let's find out just how fun and motivational it is for parents to learn that their kids have hosed a whole new set of tests.

Suggestion number 2: I say we all send letters of support to board member Alan Morse.

Today.



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