Reply to Screens/Tech in Schools: iReady

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I hate EdTech and DCPS should absolutely NOT cancel their iReady contract.

The primary purpose of iReady in DCPS is diagnostic and for tracking. Kids do iReady tests at the beginning, middle, and end of each year to help teachers identify where they are and how well they are learning. This is also how many teachers assign small groups to ensure kids are with peers at a similar level, or customize assignments to ensure kids are being appropriately challenged.

If DCPS cancels iReady without a diagnostic replacement, teachers will have no objective way to measure this. Parents will also be completely in the dark. It would be incredibly shortsighted to get rid of it without a replacement lined up.

What most of you object to is using iReady for learning and I agree, but schools and teachers actually have more leeway than you think on this point. So do parents. My kids don't do iReady homework assignment, for instance. If a teacher comments on this, I tell them we limit EdTech and believe kids learn better with pencil and paper, and teachers have actually provided written assignments when I say this. We also supplement at home if we think they need it. But we've also had teachers who intentionally don't use iReady in the classroom for learning, and my kids have been at two different schools -- one that pushed iReady hard every day and one that uses it mostly for diagnostics and sometimes to help kids who are below grade level close the gap.

If DC really wants to get rid of iReady, we should investigate alternative programs, like MAP for diagnostic testing and tracking.[/quote]

AFAIK no one is saying get rid of it and do absolutely nothing for diagnostic assessment. DCPS should take on deciding on that, based on the suggestions already put forth by teachers, parents, and other community members and experts in addition to their own research — and not punt the task into another year.

Diagnostics might have been the primary purpose for it, but it’s not always what it looks like in practice, and the harms are stacking. Ferebee / DCPS itself has acknowledged that in some schools the use is absolutely excessive. They can already see this … yet they want to take another year to “observe.” [/quote]

I mean suggesting we cancel the contract would eliminate its use for diagnostic purposes.

If the problem is the non-diagnostic uses, you could pass a policy tomorrow that told schools they couldn't use individual devices at all until at least 3rd grade, and restricted the use of iReady for teaching purposes (no iReady for homework assignments, no rewards for doing more iReady). They could also restrict the use of iReady scores in teacher IMPACT evaluations until they've decided whether or not the district will continue with iReady or replace it with something else.[/quote]

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