FSA Score Results: What Parent’s Should Know

dmbtestI have reviewed the FSA validity study and the response by the Florida Department of Education.  It boils down to a few key issues:

  1. 1.  Students should be held harmless from promotion, graduation and placement in remediation courses.
  2. 2.  Scores based on FSA standards should be delayed until independent reviews of the alignment of test questions with state standards is completed.
  3. 3.  If close alignment with standards is not meaningful (as with the Utah test questions), then less expensive, nationally normed tests should be considered.
  4.  4.  Performance standards should not be set until the alignment of item complexity with performance standards is resolved.  Questions that are too complex or too simple for a given performance level could skew passing standards and the interpretation of what students should know and be able to do at each level.  School grades and student growth measures used in teacher evaluations could be negatively impacted.  The interpretation of performance levels would change from year to year due to variations in questions in different test forms in the same year and across years.

Pam Stewart Moves Ahead on FSA Scores

standardized_testCommissioner of Education Pam Stewart makes no mention of the FSA validity study qualifications regarding the validity of the FSA for different uses.  She summarizes the study in three bullets.  Then, she states that the FSA is an accurate way to measure student’s mastery of the standards.  She announces that group level scores will be used to calculate teacher evaluations and student level cut scores.

The report says much more. The devil is in the details.  Important details.  This post compares the FSA report finding to the Commissioner’s statement.  There are recommendations in the report that are not referenced in the statement.  These could make a difference in what scores mean.

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FSA Validity Study Released

image001When we ask if a test is valid, it is critical to ask:  valid for what purpose?  The  report on the validity of the Florida FSA test was released today.  There were findings from six studies conducted by Alpine Testing Solutions and EdCount LLC.

Given that there were six sets of results and conclusions, the researchers did not state that the test as whole was valid.  Let’s look at each study’s conclusions.  Even more interesting are the results of the analyses taken together and called Cross Study Conclusions.

The study found reasons to be cautious about some of the uses of the scores.  The researchers reported that the Florida DOE did not intend to report scale scores or performance standards this first year.  Students would receive a percentile ranking, the number of points earned out of the number possible, and the average number of points statewide by category.  Interim cut scores for ELA grade 3 and Algebra I would be set by percentile equating based on the FCAT cut scores.

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Southern Legal Counsel’s Education Protection Fund

justiceMost of you know that the Citizens for Strong Schools and the Southern Legal Counsel have a lawsuit coming to trial in March 2016.  The State of Florida fought all the way to the Florida Supreme Court to keep it from coming to trial.  They lost.  Now, Southern Legal Counsel is preparing its case.  This is costly, and the firm is a non-profit.  Their attorneys are working pro bono for our schools.  They are in the throes of fund raising.  You can see a short video on their case here.

Past State Board of Education Chair Says It is all about Money!

race-653241_1280Tax credit vouchers are supposed to give poor children an option out of a failing school.  Gary Chartrand, former Chair, Florida State Board of Education, tells it like it really is.

Chartrand makes a case that getting children from poor families out of public schools saves the rest of us money.  There may be another not so hidden agenda that Chartrand forgets to mention.

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Rawlings is Dancing…and Singing…and Acting…and Creating Art!

rawlings1Can you imagine a school like this?  It is real.  Rawlings School has been transformed.  It was one of our lowest achieving public schools last year.  Three months later there is an excitement and energy.  Rawlings is now a magnet school for the arts.

Inside the building, the space is beautiful and well lit.  It is designed for music, art, dance, and theater.  As you enter the school, music will greet you.  I plan to follow the school to see their new staff in action.  Follow it with me.

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Schools Within School: Approaches to Discipline

whistle-149678_1280No excuses discipline policies create as many problems as they solve.  Students are suspended, hit the streets and create more trouble.  When they return to school, it is a downward cycle.

School districts are adopting new strategies for managing bad behavior management strategies.  Just as in law enforcement, schools are reevaluating who is being targeted and why.

The Miami Herald reports that a new approach to discipline in Miami-Dade schools will require extensive retraining and a massive culture change.  The district has 36,000 suspensions.  They have taken a multi-pronged strategy.

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Failure Factories: Your Worst Nightmare

child-513468_1280We have all heard about violence in some schools.  This second piece in the Tampa Bay Times on the Pinellas County failing schools should have a disturbing warning.  It is not disturbing, it is frightening.  Ignoring problems makes them worse, much worse.

I hesitated to post this story, but we need to know what happens when those who can, flee and refuse to deal with who is left.  This is the picture that some paint about the impact of socio-economic resegregation of our schools.  We can avoid this scenario if we have the will and the common sense not to divide our communities.  Behaviors can be managed if the children receive the help they need.

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