Pearson went down for an hour during SOL's today

[Anonymous]

Northrup Grumman profits from the eCART test engine, Horizon. As much as I hate Pearson, at least Test Nav has useable tools and an easily readable screen. Horizon is a useability nightmare. Try to teach a bunch of third graders how to open a separate eindoe, resize the window, and toggle between windows just so you can highlight in a reading passage. Then when you click to the next question all of your highlighting disappears.

What's worst about quarterly eCART required division assessments is not the software though (and they do have audio for those), it's how poorly written they are. We keep giving meds tests with countywide pass rates in the 30s and 40s. Is that an accurate assessment when pass rates in our school for SOLs are in the high 80s/low 90s? So, half of our kids are being unnecessarily tortured and experiencing failure even when they actually have mastered he standards. All this wasted instructional time, all this unnecessary failure.

eCart has been a huge waste of money. It has been around for years and they just can't seem to admit is has not worked and deep six it.

[Anonymous]

Why can't the kids just be assessed throughout the year, right as they finish a certain unit? By the end of year, it's very difficult to remember material that was covered (or maybe not covered, in the case of my DC) and then be tested on all of it at one time. If there must be assessments, do it when the information has just been taught and is fresh in their mind. It's madness to expect young kids to remember information from nine months ago.

[Anonymous]

I didn't say I knew the lady, I said I had heard about her. Had I actually known her, I would have reported her. As for 2-parent households, the point is that until we acknowledge that some communities do not seem to have a strong family unit, and until we accept that strong families are a strong predictor of success-not income level, then we have SOLs to at least highlight children that may otherwise have been left behind. I fully support testing in this regard. As for k12, I understand it much more than the average person. I have quite a bit of experience working with youngsters in a non-pay setting, I've been offered teaching jobs in various counties, but I feel that I am better able to make an impact doing what I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teachers and principals here don't like the test because it makes them accountable. The tests are needed.

Looks like someone with Pearson stock has found DCUM.

+100
Pearson is the worst thing I've seen in years. Truly awful.

ECART is worse. At least the SOL software has a audio component. ECART does not.

Huh? You're comparing a practice SOL to a global company that has a monopoly on standardized testing.

What? The real SOLs have an audio component to enable a child who is blind or dyslexic to take the test on his own. The ECART do not have any audio component and add on audio technology is incompatible with the software- so a child that needs tests read to him has to have an adult sit with him and read every single question. Every time they have an ECART- which is several times a week in MS and HS at times and is homework often. I find it infuriating that the tool FCPS has hired to help teachers make tests-practice and actual- does not have a usable audio component. Major fail on IDEA.

Northrup Grumman profits from the eCART test engine, Horizon. As much as I hate Pearson, at least Test Nav has useable tools and an easily readable screen. Horizon is a useability nightmare. Try to teach a bunch of third graders how to open a separate eindoe, resize the window, and toggle between windows just so you can highlight in a reading passage. Then when you click to the next question all of your highlighting disappears.

What's worst about quarterly eCART required division assessments is not the software though (and they do have audio for those), it's how poorly written they are. We keep giving meds tests with countywide pass rates in the 30s and 40s. Is that an accurate assessment when pass rates in our school for SOLs are in the high 80s/low 90s? So, half of our kids are being unnecessarily tortured and experiencing failure even when they actually have mastered he standards. All this wasted instructional time, all this unnecessary failure.

Only the 2nd quarter eCart division assessment is required.

[Anonymous]

So if your students are being "unnecessarily tortured and experiencing failure" while instructional time is "wasted" because you are giving quarterly eCart assessments then that's a school based decision.

[Anonymous]

then we have SOLs to at least highlight children that may otherwise have been left behind. I fully support testing in this regard. As for k12, I understand it much more than the average person. I have quite a bit of experience working with youngsters in a non-pay setting, I've been offered teaching jobs in various counties, but I feel that I am better able to make an impact doing what I do.

Sad statement. This person does not understand that the kids harmed the most by testing are the kids who she is concerned about.

[Anonymous]

No, I understand that it highlights these kids.

[Anonymous]

No, I understand that it highlights these kids

.

How? Up until now, you've done a very poor job of explaining that.

[Anonymous]

No, I understand that it highlights these kids

Highlighting and helping are not the same thing.

We all knew about this long before the SOLs.
.

[Anonymous]

No, I understand that it highlights these kids


Highlighting and helping are not the same thing.

We all knew about this long before the SOLs.

Exactly. How do the tests help instruction? For those kids who have been "highlighted"? Where is the help?

[Anonymous]

then we have SOLs to at least highlight children that may otherwise have been left behind. I fully support testing in this regard. As for k12, I understand it much more than the average person. I have quite a bit of experience working with youngsters in a non-pay setting, I've been offered teaching jobs in various counties, but I feel that I am better able to make an impact doing what I do.

What do you do?

[Anonymous]

So if your students are being "unnecessarily tortured and experiencing failure" while instructional time is "wasted" because you are giving quarterly eCart assessments then that's a school based decision.

And what can teachers, parents, and students do to stop these "school based decisions"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No, I understand that it highlights these kids


Highlighting and helping are not the same thing.

We all knew about this long before the SOLs.

Exactly. How do the tests help instruction? For those kids who have been "highlighted"? Where is the help?

Creative teachers can take the information and add more tools to their teaching toolbox. I am proSOL. I understand testing all too much and understand that school systems don't like them as they truly highlight some deficits in the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No, I understand that it highlights these kids


Highlighting and helping are not the same thing.

We all knew about this long before the SOLs.

Exactly. How do the tests help instruction? For those kids who have been "highlighted"? Where is the help?

This is what I'm wondering too. Example: my child does poorly on an SOL. The school wants to retest her. Exactly how does this help if they're not going to sit down with her and go over her mistakes and show her what the right answers should be, and WHY. Instead, they just want to sit her down in front of the computer again - only to make the same mistakes once more. She hasn't learned anything from this experience. What a crock.

[Anonymous]

Stop blaming SOLs. SOLs highlight what wasn't mastered. I'm amazed, not in a pleasant way, that' my kids' teachers do not review tests. They return the tests with no review. Like I said before, SOLs are a great way to weed out lazy teachers, to help teachers add more tools to their teaching toolbox, and to highlight kids who didn't master the concepts. In respect to the latter, it is sometimes because the teacher didn't teach. A big part of teaching is taking the time to review, which doesn't always, or usually, happen. For all you haters, please stop implying that I don't understand. I think it is you who doesn't wish to accept accountability.