Reply to MAP percentile cutoff for MS magnet lottery?

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Reply to "MAP percentile cutoff for MS magnet lottery?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They could also change the FARMS bands. I think one year they had 5 and then they changed it to 3. There's a lot of ways to manipulate the numbers to get your desired result.[/quote]

The one strength I need to give them credit for is their amazing ability to manipulate the data to produce their desired results. Heaven forbid they give every student the same test (which they do) and use the data itself to determine who is best prepared for the program. No, they must come up with very complex algorithms to allocate seats away from students with outlier performance and toward students with mediocre scores. [/quote]

That's because MAP performance is influenced largely by exposure, while they seek expoaure-neutral ability for magnet programs while utilizing MAP for expedience.  It is far from the fidelity to capability sought (in many ways), but, when implemented correctly, local norming is a recommended practice to try to account for that disconnect, where teachers in low-FARMS schools are more routinely able to manage cohorts to provide enrichment/exposure to those able than those in high-FARMS schools.  This is independent of any more socio-political aim, but it could very well serve that purpoae, as well.

Cue the diingenuous CogAT-is-more-gameable-than-MAP poster...[/quote]

I mean, the curriculum is supposed to be the same across all schools in primary grades. If kids are not being exposed to the same curricular material, and that is influencing students’ standardized test performance, I think the solution is to work on fixing that inequity rather than manipulate scores based on low expectations for students at higher FARMS schools. [/quote]

I have had kids at true high FARMS schools and medium FARMS, and that idea seems naive.  The curriculum is the same, but the FARMS kids answers questions based only on lesson material.  MC/UMC kids answer questions accurately but with a wealth of background knowledge, which the teacher then explains to the whole class.  So the FARMS kid meets standards but the other classroom winds up a brief tangent about other concepts and knowledge, so the exposure is absolutely different.

And that’s without getting into issues that still exist in things like EC offerings after school - it’s not economical for companies to offer classes etc if no one at the school can afford to join them.  And classroom libraries differ widely based on SES status.

TLDR: money matters, so kids in high FARMS schools are at a disadvantage that can’t easily be remedied.  [/quote]

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