Reply to Is Real Change Even Possible?

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Reply to "Is Real Change Even Possible?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I think this thread derailed because people were talking about the changes they have seen in a positive direction in the past 10+ years, and how to build off of them (which morphed into demographic changes in the last 10+ years...)

As was said above, more middle schools are offering advanced coursework, literacy instruction has been revamped, and at least at the elementary schools I am familiar with, kids are getting more science instruction than they used to (kids were getting WAY less than they were supposed to).

IMO, if you step way back and look at education, the past few decades and the obsession/focus on prepping kids for standardized testing has kind of broken the system. Especially now that we take a test that no other state uses, so we can't even use the data to see how we are doing relative to other states. So much of what the kids do in school (especially towards the end of the year) is prepping for these test - and the pressure from the top down is horrible. Using data to inform teaching is helpful, but I think tests like iReady or MAP can help with that since they actually show results in real time, and can demonstrate growth. 
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Excellent post.

My kid just finished CAPE testing. Heard from her and a bunch of other kids about how students, when they get tired or bored or the question is too long, just select a random answer. When there is a text box, they write a haiku about how much DCPS sucks, or how such and such teacher should be fired.

I fully do not understand what incentive there is for students to taking state testing seriously. They’re made to do many hours (maybe 10 hours) but the data must be worthless. [b]How can they tell the difference between a student who tries to do their best, a student who doesn’t care at all, and a student who sometimes tries and sometimes blows it off?[/b] What a giant waste of time and effort. [/quote]

Well, like all tests, the top is very informative and the bottom could happen for a number of reasons.

If the score is good, that means something is going right (the kid learned enough). You can't accidentally get a very good score. It's happening for a reason (some good reason).

If the score is bad, it could mean the kid didn't learn enough, but it could also mean the kid is smart but decided to blow it off, or doesn't test well, or something. There could be a number of reasons why the score is bad.

Same with things like the SAT. A top score is always very informative, a bad score less so.

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