Benchmark and the reading SOL

[Anonymous]

Is anyone worried that the new Benchmark program won't prepare them for the SOL?

[Anonymous]

No, I’m not concerned, but I don’t worry about SOLs in elementary school. If the testing data show that benchmark isn’t teaching the kids what they’re supposed to know for SOLs, then it’s info the board should be using to evaluate the program.

[Anonymous]

The elementary SOL is pointless, you can opt out if you want to.

[Anonymous]

According to my 3rd grader the SOL practice seems significantly easier than Benchmark. I'm not worried either way, though.

[Anonymous]

The reading SOL is fairly easy. Mostly reading short passage and just answering a few multiple choice questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone worried that the new Benchmark program won't prepare them for the SOL?

LOLOL!! Benchmark is so much better than the old TPT system, OP. You have no idea. Why is this even in AAP? Get. A. Grip.

[Anonymous]

OP, do you just make up things to cause drama? If you’re paying attention, you’d know that Benchmark is actually pretty intense and pushing kids in ways they’ve never been pushed before. There are weekly assessments followed by unit tests. They’re more than prepared for the SOLs.

[Anonymous]

The opposite! I think Benchmark will better prepare them for the Reading SOL.
The previous approach to "teaching" ELA was ridiculous and not effective, so I think Benchmark is a huge improvement.

[Anonymous]

The Benchmark assessments, in 5th grade at least, are dreadful, with many vague, ambiguous, and/or poorly written questions being passed off as “rigorous.” For example, a question requires the child to identify then meaning of a word using context clues, but the context clues in the text (if any) are insufficient to actually determine the meaning, so what the question actually measures is whether you knew the meaning of the word beforehand. Or weird questions like “how does the illustration contribute to the author’s tone?” when the illustration is a simple line drawing with a very literal depiction of an event in the text and no apparent contribution to the “tone” whatsoever.

By contrast, the reading SOL questions are pretty meticulously vetted. New questions are piloted and statistics analyzed before they are actually counted in the score. They make sense and the questions actually assess the skills they are purported to assess. I think it’s going to be a relief after the frustration of the Benchmark assessments, to be honest.

[Anonymous]

Benchmark has “poorly written questions being passed off as rigorous.” That’s so true!

[Anonymous]

I know people like to poo-poo iready, but this year was the first year my kid had decent growth from fall to winter without significant supplementation at home. So I am hopeful reading SOL will be good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Benchmark assessments, in 5th grade at least, are dreadful, with many vague, ambiguous, and/or poorly written questions being passed off as “rigorous.” For example, a question requires the child to identify then meaning of a word using context clues, but the context clues in the text (if any) are insufficient to actually determine the meaning, so what the question actually measures is whether you knew the meaning of the word beforehand. Or weird questions like “how does the illustration contribute to the author’s tone?” when the illustration is a simple line drawing with a very literal depiction of an event in the text and no apparent contribution to the “tone” whatsoever.

By contrast, the reading SOL questions are pretty meticulously vetted. New questions are piloted and statistics analyzed before they are actually counted in the score. They make sense and the questions actually assess the skills they are purported to assess. I think it’s going to be a relief after the frustration of the Benchmark assessments, to be honest.

I was on the reading SOL review committee for at least seven years, and we reviewed hundreds, or possibly even thousands, of questions.

1. The questions don't always actually align to a standard, so they just slap a random standard on them when they are not a neat fit to a standard as written.

2. We were only allowed to edit a small percentage of the questions and passages, and once they'd been field-tested, no editing was permitted.

3. We were only allowed to veto/throw out a VERY small number of questions, so many questions that were actually very poor questions made it through to the actual test.

4. They REQUIRED that there be a bank of "extremely rigorous" (AKA, "often unfair") questions that could be used on the CAT test. Some of those questions were extremely unfair or just wrong, and Pearson claimed that they were "rigorous." For example: Which of the following words does not use a suffix meaning 'action or condition'? A. rendition B. affliction C. indignation D. inspiration

5. Every year, there was a bully on the committee, and that person was always listened to more closely than the rest of the committee. That bully always got certain questions and passages approved that never should have been , as well as questions vetoed (our few vetoes!) that were actually good ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
4. They REQUIRED that there be a bank of "extremely rigorous" (AKA, "often unfair") questions that could be used on the CAT test. Some of those questions were extremely unfair or just wrong, and Pearson claimed that they were "rigorous." For example: Which of the following words does not use a suffix meaning 'action or condition'? A. rendition B. affliction C. indignation D. inspiration

Wait, don't all those have the same suffix, or has it been too long since I was in an English class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
4. They REQUIRED that there be a bank of "extremely rigorous" (AKA, "often unfair") questions that could be used on the CAT test. Some of those questions were extremely unfair or just wrong, and Pearson claimed that they were "rigorous." For example: Which of the following words does not use a suffix meaning 'action or condition'? A. rendition B. affliction C. indignation D. inspiration

Wait, don't all those have the same suffix, or has it been too long since I was in an English class?

You are correct. That's the point. It's an unfair question because there's no correct answer, but it's one that might appear on the test as a "rigorous" question.