Seattle Schools Community Forum

I attended the forum on standardized testing on Monday night at Thornton Creek Elementary.  There were about 40 people there including parents and teachers.  I sure wish more people had attended as it was a great discussion.  I wish someone from the district could have been there to see that this is how you have a public discussion.  Kudos and thanks to Chris Stewart for putting this on (and her speakers as well).

Parent Chris Stewart has organized an evening for parents to discuss standardized testing.  With the changes in the state test and the newness of MAP testing, it is a good time to talk about the issues.   Issues to explain: parent education goals of testing benefits of testing costs of testing parental rights national perspective Issues for feedback: are these the best way to meet the district's academic goals? what you might like to see in SPS ideas on testing frequency for different age groups She will have different speakers on the issues speaking about 10 minutes each and then an hour for discussion with the entire group (no breakout groups).  (Note; there is not going to be discussion of testing for the Advanced Learning program.) The meeting is Monday, April 4th at Thornton Creek Elementary, from 6-8 p.m.  

A very funny video from a blog called What It's Like on the Inside (from a Washington State teacher and no I don't know who it is). The video is a little long but really it has to be: it's trying to explain state testing. Thanks to Dorothy for the link.

I just skimmed this article but apparently all Washington parents will get a letter from their school (district?) about the rules and schedule for state testing. Look for that in the mail. From the Seattle Times article : State rules for who has to take the High School Proficiency Exam — and its predecessor, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL — have been confusing parents and students for years. Four bills before the Legislature may simplify things in the near future. Some proposals take aim at the most confusing part of high-school testing — the rules that cover which high-school math exam or exams a student is expected to take this spring. The confusion stems from the state's transition from a general high-school math test in 10th grade to end-of-course exams for algebra and geometry. As the rules stand now, some students who took algebra or geometry a few years ago may be expected to take end-of-course exams in those subjects this year. Of cours...

For the past two months the Seattle Times has been running editorials about how students' standardized test scores reflect the quality of instruction they received and how standardized test scores absolutely should be part of a teacher's performance evaluation. Then, yesterday, the MSP and HSPE pass rates for 2010 were released by the OSPI. Now the Times accepts the idea that the low pass rates are primarily due to students' unfamiliarity with the tests, a change in math Standards, and inadequate resources to support struggling students. The Times needs to decide their opinion on what drives student test scores. Are they determined primarily by teacher effectiveness - and therefore an appropriate part of a teacher's performance evaluation - or are they driven by student familiarity with the test, district-level support for struggling students, and the moving target of state Standards - and therefore NOT appropriate for use in measuring teacher effectiveness? Whic...

This disturbing news comes to us straight from the Special Education PTA listserv: OSPI has published MSP/HSPE test results for 2010. How are our special education students doing? Well, let's look at 10th grade, since that's what's needed to graduate. Rubber meets the road. 9% pass math and science in 10th grade. 9%!!!! And, that's 9% on each test... so the number who pass both... well, it's WAY less than 9% (though not published). Around 60% of our IEP students are cognitively normal (LD/SLD)... so the fact that only 9% pass, well it represents a real problem. That might be OK for now, since it isn't required for anything... but moving forward, those tests are required for graduation... and it means lots and lots and LOTS of our students won't be graduating. At my, very high performing school... only 1 student with an IEP passed the science portion of the MSP. 1. Uno. Food for thought. Where's the accountability for students with IE...

The pass rates for the Measure of Student Progress (MSP) and High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE) have been released by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and can be found here . You can also use that web page to get results for districts or schools. There isn't much to say about the results for Seattle Public Schools . The pass rates for reading are up in four grades and down in three grades. The pass rates for math are up in four grades and down in three grades. The pass rates for writing are down in all three of the grades in which writing is tested. Science is also tested in three grades and is down in one and up in two. In short, there is no change worth noting. More to the point, these results represent extremely poor progress towards the goals of the Strategic Plan , "Excellence for All". There are just three years until 2012-2013, the school year when the plan is supposed to bring the District to its five year goals. 3rd grade rea...

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Randy Dorn, is recommending that the legislature delay, yet again, the "pass the math test" requirement for high school graduation. See this news story in the Seattle Times. The Times, in this editorial , complains that this delay "lowers the bar". Instead of delay, they write that " The Legislature must exchange Dorn's plan for one that does something for students. A better effort would include more experienced math teachers and up-to-date textbooks. After-school tutoring, summer school and other ways are needed to give students more lesson time. Science must be injected into core curricula with all the teacher training and other resources required to place science on par with reading, writing and arithmetic. " Ah, the idealism of the Seattle Times. It's refreshing, if naive. They are, of course, correct. But so what? The legislature is not going to pony up any money to pay for these proposals. So after...

I have seen some analysis of WASL pass rates - White vs. African-American, trends over time, cohort following - either in the District or school-by-school. These analyses were done either by me or by other blog participants; I'm not seeing any done by the District. Is there some analysis that folks would like to see? Honestly, these things don't take much time and I'm happy to do them. I'm as interested in the results as anyone else, so don't be shy about asking for something. Data is available for all schools in the state, so you could see how many high schools with at least 40 students tested and without the word "Alternative" in their name had lower pass rates on the math WASL than Rainier Beach High School (there were only nine).

So true to his word, the new Superintendent of Public Instruction, Randy Dorn, has done away with the WASL. There won't be one this year. Or will there? The tests have a new name, but one of them is unchanged, another is not new so much as an abridged version of the WASL, and really only the high school math tests - not yet available - are supposed to be really different. How are folks feeling about this? Is Randy Dorn keeping his commitment? Does he clearly intend to keep it but these things take time? Or is this all smoke and mirrors? For reference, check out this piece by SoulNerd in Publicola, this story in the Times, and this story in Crosscut.

The OSPI has released the WASL pass rates for the tests taken in the Spring of this year. In general, the results are not good. Of the 48 different pass rates for the high schools (12 high schools with a reading, writing, math and science pass rate for each), 33 of them are down and only 15 of them are up. And 6 of those 15 are in science, which is still in the early growth phase. Areas of particular concern are the schools in the Southeast Education Initiative. All four pass rates for Rainier Beach High School were down, some down sharply. Rainier Beach has the lowest pass rate for all of the high schools in three of the four categories. I don't know what the accountability goals were for Rainier Beach around WASL pass rates, but there is no way that the school met the goals. Cleveland high school saw an increase in two of the four pass rates - for math and science. Of course they are still next to last in reading (only RBHS is lower), next to last in math (only RBHS is lower), an...

The Times had this article about the results of a study on high-stakes testing. From the article: "Researchers spent two to three days at six Washington high schools, where they observed classes and interviewed parents, students, teachers and principals. Although their sample was small, they said they chose schools they think are representative of the state's high schools as a whole. Teachers echoed many of the same old criticisms of the WASL — it's too long, the results are confusing and don't come back in time — but they also credited the WASL with improving students' writing and reasoning skills. They pointed favorably to its "extended response" questions, which are to be eliminated from new exams favored by Randy Dorn, the new state superintendent of public instruction who campaigned to replace the WASL." Also: "Of the three states the center has studied, Washington was the only one where teachers mentioned that a high-stakes test suc...

In this story from the AP, Randy Dorn, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, says that he wants to delay math and science requirements for high school graduation. Dorn says that the current graduation requirement for high-school students to pass statewide math and science tests by 2013 is neither realistic or fair.

Juanita Doyon is a Spanaway mom who found PEN (Parent Empowerment Network) to fight for a better assessment tool than the WASL. She has been tireless in this effort. I'm on her mailing list and I received this message: "Thanks to Bill Benson at KIRO TV for doing an important investigation and report on WASL. And thanks to those of you who contacted Bill to share your experiences. I received the following email from Mr. Benson on Friday. If you aren’t in the Seattle TV service area, please visit the www.kirotv.com to view the story, once it airs at the times stated in the email. Juanita, Thanks so much for your help on our WASL story. We’ve put together a two part series that’s been four months in the making and involves an analysis of every district in the state. The promos will be running this weekend and the stories will air on Monday May 11th at 11pm, and on Wednesday May 13th at 6pm . There will also be a place on our website where the public can take a look at WASL anom...

The Times had an op-ed piece the other day by Christopher Eide (identified as "a Sammamish High School graduate, is a 2009 Master's in Education candidate at Harvard University.") which starts out wondering why the math WASL is a failure here and somehow migrates into the need for charter schools. From the opinion: "In 1999, 33 percent of Washington's 10th-graders passed the Washington Assessment of Student Learning math section; that rate steadily improved until 2004-05 when the scores flattened out around 49 percent. After no real evidence of progress in the past four years, what do you do? Do you look for another solution, or just hide it away, move on and pretend that it didn't happen? Washington lawmakers are poised to choose the latter rather than look for help." Okay, there some real information here and he says Washington lawmakers are basically avoiding doing anything about testing for math. Okay, so how do you look for help in math? Then he...

Seattle Public Schools has a long history of promises made and promises broken. The district gives promises to communities to suppress opposition to their plans, then they move forward with the plans but don't keep the promises. It happens all the time. I am convinced that a number of the promises were made without any intention of ever fulfilling them, just to suppress opposition. You cannot go to them and demand that they fulfill their promise. You have no means to compel them to fulfill and they know it. They will simply ignore you. That's if they don't laugh in your face. Then they are back a year or two later with more promises to suppress opposition to more plans. The public needs some means of applying accountability. The public needs some way to get the district staff (or school staff) to keep their promises. No one in the District - except the Board - are accountable to the public. They don't need your approval for anything they want to do, and they don't h...

Two articles were in the PI this week about the WASL. The first one reported a news release from OSPI that the 9th grade WASL will not be given. The second one reported that chairwoman of the state Senate education committee said that she is watching how the WASL is affecting students. The 9th grade WASL story states that OSPI is trying to find ways to save money. It's true; it's not absolutely necessary to give the WASL at the 9th grade. It certainly is an final early warning about how students might do on the WASL as sophomores and it does allow 9th graders who pass to get it out of the way. But can it be cut? Yes. Sadly, more than double the number of 9th graders than last year had registered to take it (so it seems they perceived a value to it). This from the second story about state senator, Rosemary McAuliffe, "Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe promised a hearing room full of teachers, students, parents and education group representatives Wednesday that her committee ...

Randy Dorn, the new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, will be a guest on KUOW's The Conversation at 1 p.m. today. KUOW is on 94.9 FM and they archive their shows so you can listen to it at a later date.

Randy Dorn just released details on replacing the WASL with a new assessment, called Washington Comprehensive Assessment Program (WCAP), beginning in Spring 2010. I'm excited to see Dorn make a clean break from the WASL, as opposed to spending time and money on an overhaul. The WASL had so much baggage that its reputation could not be redeemed with most families and teachers. What will the WCAP be? According to OSPI's site: Measurements of Student Progress (MAP) test in Grades 3 - 8 The MSP will differ from the WASL in numerous and significant ways. The grades 3-8 tests will be used as tools for teachers to evaluate the progress of students with almost immediate feedback. The grades 3-8 MSP tests will be: --Shorter, both in time required to take the test and the number of days needed to administer it. --Less expensive and tied to technology. High School Proficiency Exams (HSPE) The High School Proficiency Exams (HSPE) will measure whether students hav...

The newspapers are now reporting that Randy Dorn has beaten Terry Bergeson for State Superintendent of Public Instructions. Ms. Bergeson has conceded to him. This win plus the election of Barack Obama are very hopeful signs for public education. One, because President-elect Obama repeatedly brought up education during the debates (without a single question about education being asked) and dedicated a policy speech during the campaign to education. I believe education means a lot to Obama and I look forward to a revamped NCLB. (There has been talk that Colin Powell may be the Education Secretary. Interesting choice but he's obviously a bright guy. I would prefer someone with an education background however.) Mr. Dorn has pledged to shorten and streamline the WASL. This is huge because he will finally get to us a finished WASL. If we are using it to determine graduation, it needs to be completed. Hey, if we have a finished WASL, he can actually focus on other important educ...