2010 DC CAS Scores Online

[Anonymous]

18:16, yeah, they were probably "erased to the top." (Thank Anon, that is a glorious line!)

Do you think your child will "catch" low test scores? Is there anything else at the school (music, language, special programs) that attracted you in the first place?

If so, you're probably fine for a bit.

If you chose only on test scores, yes, you are hosed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's important to understand that AYP is a moving target. The percentage of students that need to be proficient in reading and math increases every year. Eventually, if NCLB isn't revised or discarded, nearly every school in the U.S. will fail to meet AYP, because, despite what you hear about Lake Wobegon, there is no school where all of the children are above average.

They don't have to be above average to meet AYP. Proficiency means meeting the minimum requirements for math and reading at grade level. I don't think it's outrageous to require schools to prove their students are on grade level. Social promotion has left too many 9th graders reading on the 2nd grade level. And then we wonder why they drop out of school after repeating the 9th grade 3 times. If you catch it early in the 3rd grade you won't end up with a drop out in the 9th!

I thought "Basic" was meeting the minimum requirements. Is that not so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proficiency means meeting the minimum requirements for math and reading at grade level. I don't think it's outrageous to require schools to prove their students are on grade level.

Given the infinite variety of the human species, do you really think that it's reasonable to expect every human child will perform at "grade level" at the same time? Is this the limit of your understanding of human development?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, that's just great, the proficient and advanced scores at the supposedly rising elementary school that I signed my preschooler up for this fall have plummeted from last year's "as good as Oyster" scores. Guess it was cheating or a fluke and now my little DC is hosed. Thanks a lot, illiterate DC school children.

Did you choose that school solely for it's test scores? Either you are being ironic and bitter or you have really drunk the Koolaid!

[Anonymous]

The more they pound the tests, the worse the kids do. Maybe they should let teachers go back to teaching?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The more they pound the tests, the worse the kids do. Maybe they should let teachers go back to teaching?

Amen

[Anonymous]

I agree that, ultimately, AYP will become an unreachable target, but for now some schools are meeting it, why not others? I am an Eaton parent and was stunned to see that Eaton did not make AYP (it did last year and won autonomous status this year though the two are not tied together, I am sure the scores factored into the decision)! Anyone have any insight into Eaton's 2010 performance?

[Anonymous]

It must be those lazy, no-good, shiftless, ineffective, union teachers. Off with their heads!

[Anonymous]

I would love to hear the official "explanation" for this. Since Rhee took credit for the improved scores last year, how are we going to find someone else to be the scapegoat for this year?

[Anonymous]

Oh, don't worry, she has already fired those responsible. A new crop of TFA grads should right the ship.

[Anonymous]

Yes, firing her way to success and hallway drill and kill sessions. I am sure that will go into even (fuller?) gear if possible for 2010/11. Whiff of desperation will now be in the air, which should make teaching and learning just lovely. At some point teachers and kids will rightly rebel, but for the upcoming year expect administrators with swords hanging over their necks to go even more crazed. As for making AYP (100% proficiency in ALL schools by 2014). Well, the realism of that goal speaks for itself. Every school in America will fail at some point and what will we be left with? Backsliding all the way down? Transforming NCLB so it is more logical and inspirational, versus punitive (the goal at its heart is nice)? So many changes could be made, from tracking individual student gains over time, to allowing for the fact that truant kids have other issues teachers can't address. It's time to start working on this transformation NOW, or else it will become another failed, experimental law put in a drawer --except its legacy will live on in a generation of kids raised under the pressures it put on schools to conform to a dubious goal.

[Anonymous]

the thing with Rhee is that she herself believes in the NCLB goal of 100% proficiency.

She has said that DC will be the most highly performing district in the country once she is able to carry out her reforms (firing teachers? replacing them with TFA recruits? merit pay?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the thing with Rhee is that she herself believes in the NCLB goal of 100% proficiency.

She has said that DC will be the most highly performing district in the country once she is able to carry out her reforms (firing teachers? replacing them with TFA recruits? merit pay?)

She's delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the thing with Rhee is that she herself believes in the NCLB goal of 100% proficiency.

She has said that DC will be the most highly performing district in the country once she is able to carry out her reforms (firing teachers? replacing them with TFA recruits? merit pay?)

But we know this makes no sense. The experts - education scholars and policy wonks - are now saying the only reason to hire TFA corps members is to replace SUBSTITUTES. They are THE WORST INVESTMENT of all recruiting pools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Proficiency means meeting the minimum requirements for math and reading at grade level. I don't think it's outrageous to require schools to prove their students are on grade level.

Given the infinite variety of the human species, do you really think that it's reasonable to expect every human child will perform at "grade level" at the same time? Is this the limit of your understanding of human development?

I can do without your sarcasm because this issue is extremely serious. But our goal for all students should be to get to perform on grade level. Some will definitely need accomodations to get to there. Just because a child learns differently or comes from a lower social/economic background doesn't mean we should give up on their potential. Way too many people use a child's disability or social/economic background as an excuse for why they don't achieve instead of trying to find innovative ways overcome thier barriers. We fail a child when we can't get them to grade level.