Category Archives: Achievement

ALEC: Testing Policy–More are better?

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dmbtestThe American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is advocating that single state assessment tests be replaced with multiple assessment options.  State standards remain, and each of the assessment options is supposed to measure them.

The concern with such a multiple test option is that tests differ in their internal structures.   The comparability of tests that purport to measure the same standards requires careful validation.  Even then, the measurement error simply increases.  Parents will not be able to believe the scores.

Using more tests does nothing to correct the negative impact of high stakes testing on students.  It, in fact, simply increases the management problems and decreases the validity of any comparative results.  Why test if scores on a test one district uses are different from those from another district?

If the assessment systems get anymore complicated than they already are, the whole accountability system may implode.  Maybe that is not such a bad idea.

 

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Take “Public” out of charter school language

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shield-123080_640What makes a public school ‘public’?  It is more than how schools are governed and funded.  It is also a matter of the ethical and legal obligation to serve all students.

In Valerie Strauss’ latest Washington Post article, she reports on former New York principal, Carol Burris’ study of the sort and select enrollment practices in New York charter schools.

These are charters that are so often held up as success stories, so to speak.  Are they?

 

 

 

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Florida School Grades: Fewer ‘F’ Schools. WHY?

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dmbtestMiami-Dade has half the number of schools rated ‘F’ this year than last.  No, they did not give kids extra vitamins.  The State of Florida changed the definition of learning gains.

I think I like the change even if I do not the idea of test based accountability.  Here’s why.

 

 

 

 

  • The formula is much simpler.  The old system penalized schools by lowering school grades for failing to make arbitrary targets, and it gave bonus points that were easy to manipulate.
  • The system is somewhat less punitive.  Now school grades are based on the percentage of students making learning gains.  In the past, an at risk child’s increase in achievement might not have shown up in school grades because their gain was less than the state required.  So, students who started school behind were making progress that did not count.

The new grading system has subdivided the two lowest proficiency levels.  Level one scores are grouped in low, medium and high.  Level two is divided into low and high.  A child who scores at the same level but improves in the subcategory, from low to medium, for example, is counted as having made a learning gain.  The net effect reduces the number of failing schools.

Students scoring at or above proficiency level three must increase their test scores by at least one point the following year to be counted as a learning gain (unless they are already at a proficiency level of ‘5’).  The new school grade formula no longer provides bonus points.  There are now fewer schools with ‘A’ grades.

It may still seem like smoke and mirrors.  Achievement did not change, but the school grades did.  It reminds me of the marks on the wall I used to make as my children grew.  Most years the growth from one year to the next was about the same.  Once in awhile there would be a growth spurt.  The same was true for their achievement.  I did not need to measure the kids except to see if they met the height requirement at Disney attractions or were they ready for some accelerated academic program.

Annual testing tells us what we already know.  If you want to increase the school grades, change the formula.   There has to be a better way.

 

 

 

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article89947977.html

 

http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/5637/urlt/AccoReportTechMeeting2016.pdf

Charters are Lopsided in Whom They Serve

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directory-281476_1280Hernando and Hillsborough charters have the lowest ratios of low income and minority students.  In Pasco county, 58.2% of students in traditional public schools qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch while only 36.2% of charter students qualify.  Charters in high income areas do well academically, charters with higher percentages of low income students receive lower school grades.  This is not a surprise.  Income and academic achievement are known to go together.  What is of concern John Romano columnist for the Tampa Bay Times article is:

 

 

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Are Duval County Charters Failing?

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pizza-1442946_640Duval County has 35 charter schools serving nearly 20,000 students.  Superintendent Vitti said charters bring down district average scores on state assessments.  In the Florida Times Union article, Vitti said “I do want to raise a concern about charter school performance”.

There is more to this story.

 

 

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Detroit: Lots of choice, but no good choice

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money-40603_1280The New York Times ran a story about Detroit.  The city is recovering from bankruptcy, but school choice has bankrupted its schools.  The story is told in human terms.  Your learn about a family trying to find a good fit for its four children.  They move from charter to charter, full of disappointment as hopes are dashed.  They are besieged by hype and gifts for recruiting, but the realities of too many schools from which to choose means that no school is very good.  This is a cautionary tale.  Detroit has the lowest achieving children in the nation.  Ten percent of its children graduate at ‘college ready’.

Michigan has less charter regulation than Florida.  Charters proliferate whether or not they succeed academically.  Eighty percent of its charters are run by for-profit companies. The fight with each other to get students.  By last winter, Detroit schools were bankrupt.  The legislature agreed to help, but it refused to support regulations to manage charter growth.

It is Time to Talk about ESSA

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child speakingThere is the law, and then there are the regulations to implement the law.  Some say the new federal Department of Education proposed regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) overstep the intention of the law.  They create more stringent rules about testing and accountability than the ESSA intended.  The Florida Department of Education has put out a call for your input about the regulations. You have until July 22, 2016 to respond.  Responding in a meaningful way takes some thought.

 

 

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Today the Value of Diversity Was Affirmed

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justiceAll the money pouring into school choice helps hire professionals to give a positive spin to a poor idea.  What can be wrong with giving parents choice and take state dollars with them to charter and private schools, spin masters say.

Some parents cannot resist the allure of a selective quasi ‘private education’ even if it is not high quality.  Today the Supreme Court provided a compelling ruling that can change the conversation.

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