2010 DC CAS Scores Online

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What do you think of the fact that the next year's teacher is being judged on the CAS scores of a child who was passed along by prior (sometimes multiple teachers)? What do you make of the fact that teachers are actively dissuaded from holding children back who might need remediation and benefit from a combination of a repeated year and services? There is so much doesn't make sense about how these tests are administered/used within a system that just doesn't make sense. I have nothing against reasonable testing used as a reasonable tool. Why is it SO HARD to get it right....

This is the part of the picture that the pro-IMPACT, pro-Rhee people haven't grasped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a parent of DCPS children. In my professional capacity, I get to read tons of psychological evaluations done by DC Superior Court. It breaks my heart that there are so many 17 year olds in special education classes since elementary school who can't read or write. Often their parents have no idea that their child is multiple grades behind where they should be until the Court becomes involved. DCPS just keeps passing them along until they get to the 9th grade where they continually repeat the 9th grade. It's amazing to me that NCLB doesn't test 9th graders. Most dropouts don't even make it to the 10th grade. I'm not talking about parents who have no interest in their child's education. I'm talking about parents who have gone to every IEP meetings and requested their child receive additional help. It's been going on for years, but NCLB gives the school system a sense of urgency to fix it.

Not really. NCLB doesn't address social promotion and special education students are rarely retained. It's just not done. But I encourage you to bring this to the attention of Michelle Rhee. Ask her why there are so many special ed students in DC high schools that can't read and what she's planning to do about it.

I can tell you with certainly that testing is not going to fix this problem.

NCLB doesn't really give the schools that sense of urgency with special ed students until secondary school. For a subgroup to "count" towards AYP it has to have 25 students. At the elementary level, at least, it is common to have under 25 students in testing grades who are receiving special education services. Many elem. schools did not meet AYP performance targets for special ed this year but the sub-group did not hit the magic number, 25. This includes some of the higher scoring elem. schools in the city. The lower performance of sped students in elem. can be somewhat hidden. As a city or in the secondary schools, special ed might be flagged as not meeting NCLB goals because of the number of kids. It just doesn't really show up at elementary level for every school and if it did, maybe many special ed kids wouldn't get to 9th grade in such bad shape.

What do you think of the fact that the next year's teacher is being judged on the CAS scores of a child who was passed along by prior (sometimes multiple teachers)? What do you make of the fact that teachers are actively dissuaded from holding children back who might need remediation and benefit from a combination of a repeated year and services? There is so much doesn't make sense about how these tests are administered/used within a system that just doesn't make sense. I have nothing against reasonable testing used as a reasonable tool. Why is it SO HARD to get it right....

18:49 here, to answer your questions, I think it is terrible. The way this testing works, it has all just become a game about how to get the right score. There is an incentive to not identify kids as needing special services because the number of special ed kids can make the difference between sanctions and autonomy. This system is not working for anyone, kids or teachers.

[Anonymous]

I don't know. I think it is getting increasingly more difficult to get kids any services because of the way DCPS is reading the law. If a child has an IEP, they still have to take the DC-CAS, but they can get some accommodations during testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know. I think it is getting increasingly more difficult to get kids any services because of the way DCPS is reading the law. If a child has an IEP, they still have to take the DC-CAS, but they can get some accommodations during testing.

Are you sure? I thought accommodations were being taken away, even stuff like extra explanations... Any experts out there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know. I think it is getting increasingly more difficult to get kids any services because of the way DCPS is reading the law. If a child has an IEP, they still have to take the DC-CAS, but they can get some accommodations during testing.

Are you sure? I thought accommodations were being taken away, even stuff like extra explanations... Any experts out there?

Yes, they change the rules every year for what accommodations are allowed for special ed and ESL, yet another reason why comparing test scores from year to year is invalid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not really. NCLB doesn't address social promotion and special education students are rarely retained. It's just not done. But I encourage you to bring this to the attention of Michelle Rhee. Ask her why there are so many special ed students in DC high schools that can't read and what she's planning to do about it.
I can tell you with certainly that testing is not going to fix this problem.

You are correct that NCLB doesn't directly address social promotion or retain. I don't expect a test to fix the problem but it does highlights how we're failing in that area. An IEP address the individual's needs whereas we can how system wide failure through the NCLB testing. To be completly honest with you, I don't think Rhee knows how to fix the long standing problems with our special education population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's be real here. NCLB is just a mandate for testing, reporting, and sanctioning schools. It doesn't provide any remedies, unless you think restructuring and closing schools is a remedy.
You can't fatten a pig by weighing it.

I see NCLB as a diagnostic tool not a remedy. You have to first know how pervasive the problem is before you can have a meaningful discussion about how to remedy it. NCLB does require Title I school offer supplemental education services to students in failing schools. There is also the option of transferring to a higher performing school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you think of the fact that the next year's teacher is being judged on the CAS scores of a child who was passed along by prior (sometimes multiple teachers)? What do you make of the fact that teachers are actively dissuaded from holding children back who might need remediation and benefit from a combination of a repeated year and services? There is so much doesn't make sense about how these tests are administered/used within a system that just doesn't make sense. I have nothing against reasonable testing used as a reasonable tool. Why is it SO HARD to get it right....

I think teachers should be judged on the amount of improvement their students make from the initial DC BAS to the final DC CAS. The teacher should be rewarded, even if the child didn't make it to grade level, if the kid was seriously behind but made significant progress. I think DCPS' current one size fits all mindset is harmful. Rhee's big push to bring kids back from nonpublic schools and return them to the regular classroom is ridiculous. Some kids need a small structured environment in order to learn. When you don't give them the support they need, they are going to be disruptive.

Way too many kids are in special education for the simple fact that they can't read. Socially, it may not be a good idea to have a 16 year old in middle school but you're neglecting them academically if you just pass them on. DCPS has a special school for kids who have long term suspensions. Why not have a specialized school for kids who need serious remediation. Bring in reading and math specialist to work with these kids until get back to grade level. Bring in behavior technicians that have been trained to analyze behavior for those kids whose emotions and behaviors keep them from progressing in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

How about the first dc bas to the third? Aren't bas and cas designed by different companies? I did not find the correlation to be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I see NCLB as a diagnostic tool not a remedy. You have to first know how pervasive the problem is before you can have a meaningful discussion about how to remedy it. NCLB does require Title I school offer supplemental education services to students in failing schools. There is also the option of transferring to a higher performing school.

Regardless of how you "see" NCLB, there are specific penalties built into the law, including restructuring schools. The supplemental services (private tutoring) and transferring options did not result in higher achievement and were often disruptive, costly, and sometimes unworkable. For example, where do you transfer your kid when none of the schools in your district meet AYP? Or when there is only one high school in your city?

If you haven't already read Diane Ravitch's book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, please read it for a thorough discussion of these so-called remedies.

[Anonymous]

Wow NCLB/DC-CAS...what a nightmare. Who has time to spend figuring out this tangled web of nonsense....that's time better spent engaged with my child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of how you "see" NCLB, there are specific penalties built into the law, including restructuring schools. The supplemental services (private tutoring) and transferring options did not result in higher achievement and were often disruptive, costly, and sometimes unworkable. For example, where do you transfer your kid when none of the schools in your district meet AYP? Or when there is only one high school in your city?
If you haven't already read Diane Ravitch's book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, please read it for a thorough discussion of these so-called remedies.

Who is Diane Ravitch and why is she an authority on the American school sytem? I'm assuming you've read the book. Does she just criticize NCLB or does she offer her own remedies? If so, which ones do you belive will work in the District?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who is Diane Ravitch and why is she an authority on the American school sytem? I'm assuming you've read the book. Does she just criticize NCLB or does she offer her own remedies? If so, which ones do you belive will work in the District?

She is a professor of education at New York University, an education historian, and fellow at the Brookings Institution. She was Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. A former standardisto, she supported NCLB, but after studying its effects over the past several years, is now a critic. And yes, she does offer several remedies. I'll summarize them for you later. Gotta run.

[Anonymous]

I have not read all of Rativich's new book, just made it through the first two chapters. I have been a fairly strong advocate of the Rhee reforms and NCLB, but from what I can see from Rativich's point of view is that the reforms that have "succeeded" using these methods may not have really succeeded or if they did it resulted in such high collateral damage that they were not worth it. Also from Rativich's perspective curriculum is a big issue. She along with E.D. Hirshe are pushing for stronger more specific core curriculum that encounter a lot of flack from both the left and right. Having read several of Hirsh's books I can say that the curriculum argument is rather strong. Also having read DC curriculum I am can see how that is even with the recent revisions a weakness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!

Just disappointed, because I know from personal experience growing up that children from lower income households can be as smart or smarter than rich kids. And sometimes their parents are not quite so rude as the ones in anonymous chat rooms.

This was the school that we liked the best after tours and from our lottery choices, it is closer (but not in boundary) to our home but we are not JKLMO...yet.