Reply to PARCC monitoring student's social media, wants schools to "punish" them

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Parcc may be meaningless to high school students right now, because they really have no skin in the game. But the Parcc consortium is gearing up to make Parcc results as meaningful as the ACTs and SATs. Parcc has a long-term plan to persuade college admissions staff to use Parcc scores as a measure of "college and career readiness."

Of course, they haven't yet established the cut scores or even the categories for proficiency. It appears that there will be between 3 and 5 levels. Parcc concedes that three levels is quite broad, but that the test does not support "finer" distinctions on the level of performance.

What a waste of time and money![/quote]

The same can be said of the HSAs, which were a joke in comparison to the PARCC.  HSAs had an online version, too - a format mainly used during make ups.  It took a few years before the powers that be normed the HSA scores, which fell into three categories:  basic (translation - failure), proficient, and advanced.

I had heard there were ways to disaggregate data by indicator in order to highlight trouble spots.  However, as educators, we were never given that information, nor told how to access it ourselves.  So it was anyone's guess as to what indicators we focused on during remediation.   And if a student failed twice, s/he was allowed to graduate after completing and passing a project.  pathetic

I'm sure each system will have its own version of these projects once schools start reporting high failure rates with PARCC.

When students failed the HSAs, we (teachers) worked on reading comprehension b/c many of our students were reading below grade level.  And that's the main problem - We were NOT testing them on skills found on the tests; we were testing them on how well they read.  Even if Johnny understands theme, he may not be able to detect theme in a passage written several levels above his.

These problems will resurface with PARCC as well.  More, however, will fail because the test is very challenging.

So what's next then?  Blame the teachers (again) and reconstitute every school with failing scores?  Have private corporations take over schools?  Push for more charter schools?

Not one has worked.  Kids who are never present won't pass. Kids with language barriers just entering the States will not pass. Students with emotional blocks will not pass.  Those without technology at home will not pass, as it's hard enough to transition from mouse to track pad.  And then there's the click, drag and drop process!  For younger kids with fine motor issues or for those with slower processing, this method is often confusing and complicated.

We are doomed, folks  As one who's been in public ed for over 20 years, it has gotten worse - NOT better.  In the past, principals had autonomy to run their schools, to work with THEIR communities (pre-consortia "mentality"), to push kids into trades.  Now THAT was true differentiation, especially when students opted into trades where they were trained by some talented folks who prepared them for full time jobs as soon as they received their diplomas.

We're all different.  Just b/c you can't pass a standardized test at the advanced level doesn't mean you're stupid.  I can't fix a car motor.  I can't design a home.  I can't fly a plane.  But I can teach a child how to improve his/her reading comprehension if given the time, resources and a smaller setting.

My own children are guinea pigs for these tests.  So this hits even closer to home.

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