did your kids school have a pep rally for the DC CAS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine did. He thought it was silly. All this testing and test prep is why we're calling it quits with DCPS for middle school.

And move where? Testing happens every where now. And aren't you curious enough to know how well your child is learning against the standards and his peers?

[Anonymous]

Test pep rallys happen in fairfax and MoCo too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just wondering if was a dcps thing, or a school thing?

There was one last year--I don't know--it all feels so bizarre for kids to have this pressure. But teachers have to be measured by some kind of objective standard and the test seems like a fair one. I just would implore parents not to talk about the ramifications for test score performance on their teacher's and administrator's jobs. It's really not appropriate for kids to have that type of info.

Let them have healthy competitive jockeying to study hard and do well during the school year. Establish a school culture where academic success is valued NOT DENIGRATED. If you have been engaging your kids with positive reinforcement all year every day (since last August!) about what they are learning at school and in the world around them, they will make progress on this test. But if they have a bad day or series of days--and the scores are not what they could be: please, don't sweat it. It is just ONE measure of their learning.

Easier said than done. I have 3 kids and this is our 3rd year with it. But every year it gets better.

Why do you think these tests are fair? Why do you think quality teaching is something that can or should be measured?

[Anonymous]

The tests aren't fair? Teacher quality can't or shouldn't be measured? What?! With the amount of focus, test prep, cheerleading etc . . . that goes into the DC CAS, it's like a free ride for teachers. Now, if instead, we just asked teachers to teach their subjects to the best of their ability and then sprung a surprise test on the students, we might have a more accurate assessment of who was a quality teacher and who was simply riding the coat tails of a school-wide obsession with test prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The tests aren't fair? Teacher quality can't or shouldn't be measured? What?! With the amount of focus, test prep, cheerleading etc . . . that goes into the DC CAS, it's like a free ride for teachers. Now, if instead, we just asked teachers to teach their subjects to the best of their ability and then sprung a surprise test on the students, we might have a more accurate assessment of who was a quality teacher and who was simply riding the coat tails of a school-wide obsession with test prep.

love your sense of humor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just wondering if was a dcps thing, or a school thing?

There was one last year--I don't know--it all feels so bizarre for kids to have this pressure. But teachers have to be measured by some kind of objective standard and the test seems like a fair one. I just would implore parents not to talk about the ramifications for test score performance on their teacher's and administrator's jobs. It's really not appropriate for kids to have that type of info.

Let them have healthy competitive jockeying to study hard and do well during the school year. Establish a school culture where academic success is valued NOT DENIGRATED. If you have been engaging your kids with positive reinforcement all year every day (since last August!) about what they are learning at school and in the world around them, they will make progress on this test. But if they have a bad day or series of days--and the scores are not what they could be: please, don't sweat it. It is just ONE measure of their learning.

Easier said than done. I have 3 kids and this is our 3rd year with it. But every year it gets better.

Why do you think these tests are fair? Why do you think quality teaching is something that can or should be measured?

I think it is an evolving process.Again, the test is just one measureof performance. The test cannot be styled perfectly for every single child who takes it. That would not be reasonable. Of course quality teaching can be measured! The test must be given some weight to evaluate the overall performance of a teacher or a child. If a teacher is consistently failing to reach more challenging students then he or she is not a good teacher. We're not running a kibbutz here! This the real world and objective standards will impact your kid eventually whether you like it or not. It is easier to teach to bright conventional learning highly motivated students. In a public school where there is a broader spectrum of students, we need teachers with more specialized talents. For g-d's sake, we pay them twice what private school teachers make to compensate for higher expectations of effort.

And yes, I think they should be rewarded $$$ for success with these harder to reach students. The teachers against $$$ for performance are the scared lazy ones who would rather ignore the alternative learner who could blossom into the next outside-of- the- box type that could revolution and enrich all of our lives.

I know this post is all over the place, but your query is existential mockery: can quality teaching really be measured? Can quality of life be measured? Can happiness be quantified? While you squeamish types are wringing your hands over that question DCPS will just slide back into the old patronage and pass system it had before. Those with power and privilege will go to private and the public schools will become even more prison like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine did. He thought it was silly. All this testing and test prep is why we're calling it quits with DCPS for middle school.

And move where? Testing happens every where now. And aren't you curious enough to know how well your child is learning against the standards and his peers?

He probably thought it was silly because you thought it was silly.

Or maybe anything that your child thinks is silly you decide he doesn't have to do.

Awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tests aren't fair? Teacher quality can't or shouldn't be measured? What?! With the amount of focus, test prep, cheerleading etc . . . that goes into the DC CAS, it's like a free ride for teachers. Now, if instead, we just asked teachers to teach their subjects to the best of their ability and then sprung a surprise test on the students, we might have a more accurate assessment of who was a quality teacher and who was simply riding the coat tails of a school-wide obsession with test prep.

love your sense of humor

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Those with power and privilege will go to private and the public schools will become even more prison like.

Do those private schools that those with power and privilege will go to evaluate their teachers using standardized test scores?

Are they linking $$$ to test scores?

[Anonymous]

Back to the test, DC said test has been easy and the BAS tests were harder I find this interesting - preparatory tests harder!? On purpose, so then whne it's time to take CAS, it is easier therefore more kids score higher on the standard? Why wouldn't they be the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the test, DC said test has been easy and the BAS tests were harder I find this interesting - preparatory tests harder!? On purpose, so then whne it's time to take CAS, it is easier therefore more kids score higher on the standard? Why wouldn't they be the same?

logic has nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Maybe someone who really understands how these tests are developed can answer but I don't think the BAS and CAS should be the same. Isn't the BAS designed to give teachers a clue about where students stand academically - so ideally that test would have content on it for students working at higher academic levels so it would make sense that some of it is harder. So with the BAS you get the baseline data to help teachers identify students that might need more help in school and ideally how to help advanced students excel.

The CAS is testing to make sure students have learned everything they are supposed to learn for their grade level - so it might not have really advanced or super hard questions. If your kids are working at a higher academic level to begin with then they might score advanced on both parts.

An evaluator or scientist should chime in, but that is my understanding of it.

[Anonymous]

Not only do we do it for the test...but we do it for the annual sporting events. We even do it for the honor-students inductions into the National Honor Society too... It is a feel good "rally" to have the cheerleaders, bands, pom-pom girls and the hoopla "encouraging each other on succeeding" Where did the idea come from? It came from a group of DCPS teachers who attended training with MoCo teachers and exchanged ideas. It was not the sole-source in raising test scores...but we all know that saying "all work and no play makes the child a dull child..."

Try-it and you might Like-it. Gimmee a T-E-S-T!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe someone who really understands how these tests are developed can answer but I don't think the BAS and CAS should be the same. Isn't the BAS designed to give teachers a clue about where students stand academically - so ideally that test would have content on it for students working at higher academic levels so it would make sense that some of it is harder. So with the BAS you get the baseline data to help teachers identify students that might need more help in school and ideally how to help advanced students excel.

The CAS is testing to make sure students have learned everything they are supposed to learn for their grade level - so it might not have really advanced or super hard questions. If your kids are working at a higher academic level to begin with then they might score advanced on both parts.

An evaluator or scientist should chime in, but that is my understanding of it.

The BAS P is supposed to be a baseline test. As for BAS A, B, and C, the data isn't really helpful because these tests are testing students throughout the year on content that we haven't yet taught them, especially in math. It's often difficult to explain to my students why they are being tested finding volume, when we haven't gotten to that skill yet.

How could the CAS ensure that students have learned everything they are supposed to learn for their grade level if the test is given in April? Do you expect teachers to have taught everything for that grade level before the end of the year?

[Anonymous]

E.L. Haynes did and got some great coverage too. Check out the news story here http://www.wusa9.com/rss/local_article.aspx?storyid=100435

You can click on the segment in the top right corner or watch the full music video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LOJIdwBwOo. Moe than 2000 views so far