Too Bad Your Kid is "Average"
Too long AND very hard? Tell your kid that the "average" kid won't be able to understand the test and do the whole thing in the time allotted? (This is from the PARCC test but I wonder how different the SBAC is/)
How does that really help a student and how do you think your child would feel? I know my sons liked a challenge but I also know that they both would have rushed to finish, maybe even guessing answers because they would not have wanted to be thought of as "average."
How does that really help a student and how do you think your child would feel? I know my sons liked a challenge but I also know that they both would have rushed to finish, maybe even guessing answers because they would not have wanted to be thought of as "average."
Comments
wowza
reader47
Public education and roads are the last evil vestiges of socialism.
NMP
My dad said that exams in his classes at Berkeley in the 1960s were like this, and then graded on curve with the middle getting C's. The SSAT and ISEE aren't like this anymore. Few college classes are either (Can you imagine half of the students in a freshman class at UW getting a 2.0 or below?). I don't know exactly why this practice was discontinued, but the system where students who do the expected work to the expected standard pass the test seems far more humane.
So... Why are we using this very outdated practice with 3rd graders in public school?
Half Full
- Tested Out
Talk about dehumanizing - students and teachers both become reliant on (and measured by) the Machine.
Who needs Terminators when simple computer programs can as effectively kill humanity?
So easy to use 'student' or 'they' as substitutes for he/she - this lack of attention to detail makes me doubt/dislike this organization even more!
-StepJ
But that's no reason to take up multiple days of instructional time for a test that most students will not pass. Students don't really need test-taking skills until they get to high school.
I'm thinking back on Nyland's letter to teachers about SBAC. It's funny how he tends to threaten teachers with discipline (up to loss of teaching certificate) for opposing him politically even if students or their educations are not endangered. He threatened to discipline the teachers at Garfield for letting their students rally against the district's choice to cut a teacher. Now he's threatening all teachers if they refuse to give the test.
It's also funny how Nyland and Carr both said "we swore to uphold the law" when it came to giving SBAC...but I never heard them say that when it came to Title VII (Native American Ed.), Title IX, IDEA, or FERPA. Or the district's own policies -- not technically laws, but I'm sure Nyland and the Board swore to uphold them as well.
I take no offense to generic Johnny. :-) Sorry my comment came across that way.
-StepJ
NE parent
Sorry, I can't confirm that Carr said that. My apologies.
HP
Yes, I'm cynical.
So, the thinking is that SBAC 3rd grade results will be available by late April. Only some 3rd grade failures will be required to have a conference. Next Spring the whole kit-n-caboodle will go down. Somehow a conference will work wonders for the last month of real learning left for the June wind down.