Consortium Sets High Bars for Its Common-Core Tests
More than half of students won't reach proficiency, Smarter Balanced predicts
Nail in the coffin.
I think I've mentioned Ed went through this in CA, back when the state was writing bigger, better tests.m(From the old kitchen table math: Regents Math A 2005)
They made the tests hard, and the whole project blew up.
You can't fail half the kids in the country -- more than half! -- and expect parents to sit still for it.
So what are we supposed to do then? Just wait until they get to college so they can bomb out there while holding lots of debt? That is the current system and IT DOES NOT WORK.
ReplyDeleteAnd just saying "don't let those kids into college" is not going to fly with those same parents either.
Oh, I know, I guess we can just tamp down standards at the college level too. Lets graduate all those kids who can't even read at a 7th grade level! Yeah, that's the ticket!
Oh, I know, I guess we can just tamp down standards at the college level too. Lets graduate all those kids who can't even read at a 7th grade level! Yeah, that's the ticket!
ReplyDeletePssst, FroggieMama: We already are! UNC is the school most recently in the news, but I'll bet a dollar that they're not the only one.
And if everybody must be above average, and 90%+ must be fabulous, the testing must be mush.
ReplyDelete"Students must score at Level 3 or higher to be considered proficient in the skills and knowledge for their grades"
ReplyDeleteProficiency is not average or even "college ready", but still, they have a problem.
"Smarter Balanced based its achievement projections on 4.2 million students’ performance on field-test items last spring."
The devil is in the details. One of the problems with modern ideas of testing is that they want to test fuzzy concepts, like understanding and critical thinking. Perhaps teachers who see kids every day can make that judgment, but not yearly, standardized tests. Why not just use Accuplacer and ACT/SAT because that's what most vocational schools and colleges use? Forget proficiency. Just show kids and parents how they are progressing towards the tests that post high schools use.