Fresh off summer vacation, many students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools find themselves staring down another crop of district-wide tests. CMS calls the tests "formatives," which is to say they help formulate the rest of the semester's instruction by giving teachers an early read on students' aptitude. Some students took the tests on the very first day of classes, said Scott Muri, chief information officer for CMS.
The formatives, which are optional, aren't the same as the 50-plus mandatory new end-of-semester tests that sparked all the commotion last spring. Those are called "summatives," which aim to show what kids have learned at the end of a semester. Muri said the formatives were first used last year. (They included math and language arts tests in grades preK-8, as well as fifth and eighth grade science. In high schools: English I, Algebra I, biology, U.S. history and civics and economics).
CMS is expanding the number of formatives this year to fill in subject areas where no formatives were offered. Muri said CMS is adding science and social studies in grades preK-8, and high schools will add English II, III and IV, Algebra II, geometry, chemistry, world history and earth/environmental science. The existing tests were also updated, with input from teams of teachers who met over the summer. The obvious question: are the formatives expanding because of the controversial introduction of the summatives last spring? Muri said no -- at least not in a specific sense of one causing the other. The only connection, he said, lies in the general sense that CMS is expanding its overall testing program to give teachers more feedback on student performance. The goal of the tweaks with the formatives, he said, is "just to improve, to make sure what we're doing is as effective as it can be."
Thursday, September 8, 2011
CMS testing ramping up early
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62 comments:
So now we add to the dufus combo of Cobitz and Baxter with more salaried PR testing cohorts.What is the cost up to now for such a wasteful cohort and human capital? A quarter of a million dollars just for a dufus cohort and millions more on, unmandated from the state, testing. Taxpayers please vote in the next school board election and stop this CMesS.
I thought the newly minted Dr. Muri was promoted to the Assistant Superintendent of Technology. Why is he providing feedback on this? Has the charming, rabbit raising Dr. Cobitz lost his position. Or were they using Dr. Muri as the pitchman until they hire the two new Communication Specialists devoted to testing, PfP, HB 546 and other things related to testing and teacher evaluations. These folks crack me up. CMS Leadership. Wake up. The public doesn't want it, the teachers don't want it and the data shows that you are wasting resources and time. You are very poor stewards of the peoples money and resources.
What does LaTarzan Henry do for her salary? CMesS is RIGHT. How about not hiring another person in administration unless they are able to teach at least ONE CLASS period a day.This would solve the overcrowding issue there.It is a little known fact that Dr.Gorman could not teach a class in NC.He did not have a liscence to teach in NC. Perhaps that should be a MINIMUM requirement for the next superintendent or any administator they hire for $100,000 plus.
UNBELIEVEABLE
Does your 3rd grader know the meaning of the word "permeated"? Can they easily read a 2-page story printed in 12-point Times New Roman font? They would need to be in order to be successful on the 3rd grade language arts assessment this quarter.
Teachers won't be able to use the "data" from these "assessments" because they are not valid. Administering the assessments wastes valuable instructional time. Students are stressed to the point of tears. Why are we doing this?
I talked to a 3rd grade teacher this weekend. By the end of the second day, they had every student pegged for what they needed and by the end of the 3rd day, had a personal plan for getting each student up to speed to score at least a 2 on EOG's. Now you are taking valuable time away from that effort and not only wasting time on these tests but will also have them wait for what the results will say if the results will even mean anything.
6:55--The third grade teacher is expecting all students to score at least a level II on EOG's? This is what NC Dept. of Instructions says about EOG levels: "Level II Students performing at this level demonstrate inconsistent mastery of knowledge and skills that are fundamental in this subject area and that are minimally sufficient to be successful at the next grade level."
Apparently the teacher you mentioned has very low expectations for her students. And perhaps she's one of those teachers whose skills need to be evaluated.
Nope, my mistype, meant 3 instead of 2. No "edit" feature for these blogs. Though this teacher is challenged with several "special needs" students in the class this year.
This teacher had far more 3's and 4's in the class last year by end of the year than some of the pretests indicated there would be. I assure you that assignment to this teacher's class is highly requested.
License was misspelled re Dr. Gorman. I agree that CMS has become a testing "circus" and am very glad to be out of the ring.
CMS calls the tests "formatives," which is to say they help formulate the rest of the semester's instruction by giving teachers an early read on students' aptitude.
Why would CMS not know the child's previous years aptitude, other than if it is a student coming into CMS for the first time?
Einstein, Einstein, Einstein..... insanity.
These tests are "optional"? to whom? I know of no principal that feels they can opt out. It's kinda like "optional" summer football practice in high school.
Is the additional testing essentially forces outside our community using CMS children as laboratory subjects for experiments in social philosophy and education theory? Why would forces external to our community pay for two fulltime spin doctors to persuade the community to acquiesce to their external desires when the community is not requesting this testing at any level and major factions of the community oppose it? Should CMS be using our children to develop an education system beyond that which state and local education resources direct and fund. I say stop chasing the free money experimentation and focus on the homegrown mission!!! Nothing is free and our children should not be for sale.
As a CMS teacher, I can tell you that the formatives ARE mandatory. If we elect not to give them, we are supposed to have our own approved formative testing system in place. Therefore, our learning zone is making the formatives mandatory, as I am sure all of the CMS learning zones are. I am tired of the deceptive PR being released to the press.
Formative Assessment is part of the instructional process. When incorporated into classroom practice, it provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. In this sense, formative assessment informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made. These adjustments help to ensure students achieve, targeted standards-based learning goals within a set time frame. Although formative assessment strategies appear in a variety of formats, there are some distinct ways to distinguish them from summative assessments.
Another distinction that underpins formative assessment is student involvement. If students are not involved in the assessment process, formative assessment is not practiced or implemented to its full effectiveness. Students need to be involved both as assessors of their own learning and as resources to other students. There are numerous strategies teachers can implement to engage students. In fact, research shows that the involvement in and ownership of their work increases students' motivation to learn. This does not mean the absence of teacher involvement. To the contrary, teachers are critical in identifying learning goals, setting clear criteria for success, and designing assessment tasks that provide evidence of student learning.
*is this what is happening in cms? No it is not.
Formative assessment is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures employed by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment.[1] It typically involves qualitative feedback (rather than scores) for both student and teacher that focuses on the details of content.
Qualitative rather than scores...hmmm...again not what cms is pushing down our throats. It is certainly score based.
Oh and those writing the formatives have NO contact with those writing the summatives. What a joke.
Regarding formatives--I would suspect that in this data driven age schools and school systems everywhere could get in big trouble for not having a "before and after" kind of testing system. How else are they going to show the demanded improvement? Remember the parents and students suing CMS on claims that poor children were not receiving a sound basic education? CMS needs data to prove that they are receiving a fair education. Claims of unequal treatment, unfair assignment, poor teachers, etc. and the legal threats that come with these claims have driven the need for school systems to document and quantify everything. Ironically some of those most vocal in leading the anti-testing campaign right now are the ones who been making the discrimination claims for years.
Misswhit, you are mistaken. Those most vocal against testing are Tim Morgan's more affluent parents district 6 who know the testing program is a crock. You know, the parents who believe Tim betrayed them by blindly following Pete against their wishes.
I do not teach in CMS, but I do tutor CMS students. From my students, I have heard about high school teachers who hand out formatives and tell the students to "do it quickly, don't think too hard" ... the lower they score at the beginning of the year, the easier it will be to show growth. I am sure that this is not widespread, but simply knowing that this is going on, at some of the best high schools, makes me so disappointed.
At the lower grades, formatives are very important to getting the year off to a great start. And, to reply to Wiley Coyote... sadly some students regress over the summer because they are stuck inside playing video games while their parents are working or just not around. There is no one home to practice math facts or encourage them to read. The summative test these kids took in May might really mean nothing in September.
Anonymous 4:00 PM--I'm afraid I missed the groundswell of vocal district 6 parents opposed to Tim Morgan and testing policies. There has been an occasional trashing of Tim here on this board and there is post on Meck ACTS facebook page by another candidate's wife, of all people, that makes false claims about how Tim's District 6 replacement would be chosen.
Again, by far the most vocal, both on-line and in print, have been those education advocates who have been crying discrimination for years (and who are the usual go-to people for Observer reporters).
Yes misswhit, you must have missed most of the last school year, news reports, online posts and school board meetings. I am sorry you are not able to understand this issue and those who are truly opposed to it.
Since you are obviously very knowledgeable about who spoke before the board this past year, could you please break down by district the numbers of speakers who addressed this subject. Thanks!
I live around the district you are speaking about and I am one of those very passionate education advocates who is constantly, to some of my friend's dismay, talking education. Therefore, I have spoken to many in districts 5 & 6 and haven't heard, unless they were teachers, that they are against testing. I hope we can all agree that teachers' performance needs to be evaluated? It seems like the most vocal opinions, and also misleading, are those that the Observer constantly go to because they know that their statements will fan the flames, and therefore fan the readership, in their outlandish and unsubstantiated claims. Welcome to the world of Mecklenburg ACTS; couldn't be more different than reflecting district 6 opinion! Who are these district 6 people you speak about? Put your money where your mouth is because that certainly hasn't been a requirement for Meck ACTS!
Outlandish and unsubstantiated claims...like claiming this testing program will lead to, well what actually? Truly evaluate teacher's performance? Truly show how much a child learns? Find me the STUDIES and DATA that prove it will - well, actually I am certain you have never read a reliable, valid study that does - because they are not out there. The studies I have seen prove this "plan" will not in fact work.
So please put YOUR money where your mouth is and prove that this Testing will work. I dare you. Since you can't, please stop adding your drivel to the equation.
Oh and genius, mecklenburg acts has a PETITION that lists the names of the people who think this testing program, etc., is absurd and needs to stop.
http://www.mecklenburgacts.org/petition/
Go check it out. Email carol or Pam if you have any questions. I am not a part of their organization but I can read...
Anonymous 3:29--love how polite you are.
You were asked for proof of your statement that implied that most of those speaking out against testing at school board meetings were from district 6. Instead of providing verification of that, 3:29 referred to Meck ACTS petition--having a signature on that position does not mean you have spoken before the board. And perusing that list I don't believe you can say that "most" are from District 6. In fact the number of signees altogether are a drop in the bucket compared to how many CMS parents and teachers there are and certainly a drop in the bucket of District 6 voters.
Unfortunately many of those who spoke before the board regarding PFP chose to be rude. It appears that 3:29 is in that camp.
No research yet, eh? Thought not...please do not bring up the horrible propaganda crap from the Gates Foundation nor the Harvard study Pete paid for after the Vanderbilt study shot down pfp as a viable alternative.
Hey you two, knock it off! Neither of you can prove who is the most vocal against testing. So drop it.
I am intrigued about the research into the testing and merit pay situations. Is there research out there - reliable, valid research - that proves either works?
If there is not, then why the the board pressing this agenda??
Is the board
Sorry
I live around the district you are speaking about and I am one of those very passionate education advocates who is constantly, to some of my friend's dismay, talking education. Therefore, I have spoken to many in districts 5 & 6 and haven't heard, unless they were teachers, that they are against testing. I hope we can all agree that teachers' performance needs to be evaluated? It seems like the most vocal opinions, and also misleading, are those that the Observer constantly go to because they know that their statements will fan the flames, and therefore fan the readership, in their outlandish and unsubstantiated claims. Welcome to the world of Mecklenburg ACTS; couldn't be more different than reflecting district 6 opinion! Who are these district 6 people you speak about? Put your money where your mouth is because that certainly hasn't been a requirement for Meck ACTS!
In reply to the above statement: Those parents in D 5 and D6 who are informed about this issue and are involved in public education policy and advocacy are truly against this standardized testing. I don't think most informed people are against a system that rewards teachers for performance and pays them accordingly. That is not the problem. What they are against is more and more testing of students to evaluate teachers. This is an HR issue and I frankly don't want my children to take tests that are tied to a teacher's compensation. There are many of us that are PARENTS and just don't agree with this policy. And sorry, I know MANY parents in D5 and D6 who are opposed to this. Talk to parents at Elizabeth Lane, Olde Providence, Providence Springs, South Charlotte, Providence HS among many others who would strongly disagree that only teachers are against this. Just contact the parent leadership at a few of these schools and I guarantee they would accurately reflect the D6 sentiment.
Just make sure you DO NOT SUPPORT any candidates annointed by Mecklenburg ACTS!.....
Some of their members still believe in busing and that tens of millions more dollars need to be thrown into black holes like Bright Beginnings......
Here's the deal: Teachers should be rewarded for going above and beyond for their students. They should receive additional compensation when they attain National Board Certification status, mentor peers and teach creatively. The pay system should not be tied to seniority. Principals and other peer/grade level teachers already know who the good teachers are and who the least effective are. Do we really need another line standardized tests of children to evaluate this? No! Do your homework and spend some time checking out the interviews of all School Board candidates on the Swann Foundation website. Tim Morgan is the only one (as of today's update) to flat out oppose getting rid of the 52+tests for the kids. He is a polished, thoughtful speaker and I respect him, but I adamently oppose this stance he is taking in regard to standardized testing. Watch the interview. He makes some compelling arguments for testing but not nearly enough to convince me how it is best for the KIDS (other than the example he uses for AP classes at Garringer HS vs Providence HS).
Wiley,
Who exactly is "annointed" by Mecklenburg ACTS? Curious, as I am trying to work through which candidates I will personally support. I supported MA and their petition for slowing down the PfP initiative because I had problems with the manner in which it was being implemented. Oh and I am NOT in favor of busing, but rather neighborhood schools. People who live in their respective communities should be tied and invested in their child's school!!! I think Meck ACTS picked up the ball that needed to be carried and the testing issue needed a champion to carry the message for the kids, teachers and parents, as it unfolded last school year. Meck ACTS filled the gap. BTW, I am a petition signer, not a Meck ACTS member but I have spoken at School Board Meetings, County Commission Meetings and I am an engaged Independent voter.
MeckACTS and Swann...
That's enough....
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (June 9, 2011) –
Elyse Dashew, a tireless advocate for public schools whose grassroots advocacy group MeckFUTURE has united families from more than 40 CMS schools in support of a better education for all children, announced today she will be a candidate for an at-large position on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in November.
Dashew co-founded MeckFUTURE – Mecklenburg Families Uniting To Uphold and Rescue Education
MeckACTS can be against testing all they want. I'm against the current fad of testing, but it is here and will unfortunately be implemented because of educrats and politicians, the same groups who have run public education into the dirt for the past 40 years.
Wiley,
Help me out here. I read all the education posts and have never commented on line until today. Help me understand your point with regard to Meck ACTs, Meck FUTURE and Elyse Dashew? I happen to support all three in some manner though not completely. Where is the connection you are trying to make?
Dashew is certainly for testing, for whatever Eric Davis tells her to do, so she is never going to receive my vote.
Interesting. No where on Dashew's website, on line interviews and meeting her in person has she ever indicated she supports testing the students beyond what they are already doing. Do you know something I don't know?
This is Swann's mission, which is supported by many members of MeckACTS:
The Mission
The mission of the Swann Fellowship is: to challenge the people of Charlotte-Mecklenburg to demand, sustain and send their children to a quality, equitable, integrated public school system; to inform and educate all people on that task; to provide forums for dialogue about diversity, excellence and equity; and to collaborate with other groups.
Busing to achieve racial integration is dead. Today's agenda for many is busing to achieve income integration.
MeckFUTURE wanted property taxes to increase to continue funding black holes like Bright Beginnings without any data to justify its existence, even though MeckACTs posted a lame attempt on their website...
Dashew and Doug Swaim, a parent of two Myers Park High School students, teamed up to co-chair MeckFuture, an advocacy group dedicated to supporting the district by lobbying state and local officials to bring in more dollars.
“MeckFuture enthusiastically endorses the 5 for 55 campaign,” Swaim said. “Rather than accept that we face a $100 million budget cut, we should lobby for an additional $55 million to save the five highest priority items. It would save 400 teachers, 325 teaching assistants, 164 support staff and keep spots for 1,500 at-risk preschool students.”
Here's a statement by Dashew:
“I am honored and humbled to have the support of so many leaders who have dedicated themselves to improving our community in so many ways,” Dashew said. “We share a common belief that only by engaging all segments of our community with our schools will we have a chance to raise the graduation rate and narrow the achievement gap. I look forward to working together to build bridges and find common ground to achieve these goals.”
1 - Raise Graduation Rates - We've heard this same rhetoric from every politician for decades. EVERYONE wants to raise graduation rates so we can eliminate one excuse as to why Johnny can't read in the 12th grade.
2 - Close the Achievement Gap (AG) - Ahhh..the elusive "achievement gap"...Again, we ALL want to close it as to eliminate the second excuse as to why Johnny can't read.
The problem is, the AG for decades has been between Blacks and Whites and still is to some degree, yet the latest data released by CMS shows Hispanics do better than Blacks against Whites. So for all the billions spent on trying to close the AG between Blacks and Whites, how do "educators" explain Hispanics, many of whom speak little to no English, perform better than Blacks?
Simply stating you want to accomplish these things and spend as much money as you can suck out of taxpayers to do it without accountability means nothing. It's the same lame rhetoric many candidates use.
Until governments - federal, state and local get a grip on the fraud the whole system is built upon, nothing will change.
We're wasting BILLIONS on programs that don't work or show little return on investment (No Child Left Behind, More at Four, Bright Beginnings, Project LIFT, the USDA School Lunch Program).
After all that, teachers are being labeled the scapegoats for failure to close the AG and dismal graduation rates.
Give me a politician that will call a spade a spade and at this point, I've seen maybe three willing to do that.
Unfortunately, one of them dropped out due to partisan politics.
I'm assuming the one "drop out" you are referring to is Babbidge? Very unfortunate in my opinion. So, who is left? I agree with your stance about NCLB. Need to research the FRL and Bright Beginnings.
Anon 8:16
The USDA School Lunch Program is rife with fraud.
No one wants to talk about it, especially politicians because they are immediately labeled racist or branded as trying to take food out of the mouths of children.
The problem is, that virtually every aspect of funding in public education is ties to that FRL number.
Sample CMS audits show potentially 60% of the sample DID NOT QUALIFY for the benefits. This is NOT just a CMS issue. Other school districts across the country face the same problem, in that the USDA will not allow deeper audits, even though these poltical morons have a link on their website to report fraud AND that their OWN REPORT states in 2010 they overpaid benefits to the tune of $1.5 BILLION DOLLARS.
http://www.paymentaccuracy.gov/programs/nslp
Since the FRL number is used for Title I funds and who gets to play sports for free, take AP/IB tests for free, school supplies for free and of course lunch free or reduced, you begin to see the enormous waste in other areas attached to the FRL designation.
http://www.newcoalition.org/Article.cfm?artId=9296
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/harvard-study-says-poverty-doesn-t-explain-away-214057461.html
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2008/09/11/184852/cms-decides-to-forgo-lunches-audit.html
http://pundithouse.com/2011/07/cms-swallows-big-tab-for-unpaid-lunch-bills/
http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/FWA%207-7-03.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11318sp.pdf
http://educationnext.org/fraud-in-the-lunchroom/
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=4881
Now...after reading all that and it doesn't make you sick?
Just know the USDA is testing a pilot program in Illinois that would GIVE FREE LUNCHES to kids who CAN AFFORD them at schools where the FRL number is above 40%...
Happy reading.
Golly, I just can't wait for the new public relations spin doctor team to begin writing anonymously in these blogs. Their mission is to foster support for aspects of externally advocated programs and philosophies our community has not embraced, but big dollar outside ideologues want to see. I wonder how many bloggers will change their beliefs as a result of spin doctor work? Or better yet, will it matter being that there will be a blog record of anonymous support CMS can reference? CMS might be better served hiring two local education and or management leadership consultants. Oh, the ideologues aren't funding that type of learning. CMS is in a trap of external funding driving the direction of our schools.
In response, and my last response to anonymous 3:25 & 3:29, because she/he hasn't been able to engage in a discussion without making it personal and nasty, the amount and type of testing has not yet even been determined by CMS. Stop reading all the hype from MECK ACTS, SWANN and the Observer (another mouthpiece for MECK ACTS) and go to the source. Ask the question of CMS administrators; I have and, contrary to what you think, they really are trying to do what is best for the students. One integral piece to a quality education is the quality of the teacher. No one knows yet that children will be obsessively tested; this is where the misinformation comes in.I agree that students should not be overly tested but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater; some testing needs to happen so teachers can use this to assess where the child is which helps them move the child to where they need to be. Also, some tests would be helpful as one of the determinants (not the ONLY) of a teacher's performance.
Following up from my previous post and in response to a request from anonymous 3:25/3:29, and my last response to anyone, such as this poster, who does not wish to engage in civil discourse, please read:
A Teacher Finds Good in Testing
August 31, 2011 by Ama Nyamekye
Ama Nyamekye writes that, when hype is stripped away, standardized tests can serve as a useful, if flawed, aid for teachers and students.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/08/31/02nyamekye_ep.h31.html?tkn=MPNF2ac9BD539JWpvegye8WMMrgkohoiiaXn&intc=es
In response to anonymous 3:25 & 3:29, the amount and type of testing has not yet even been determined by CMS. You need to read with a critical eye all the hype from MECK ACTS, SWANN and the Observer (having a bias for MECK ACTS) and go to the source. Ask the question of CMS administrators which I have and, contrary to your misinformation, they are trying to do what is best for the students. One integral piece to quality education is the quality of the teacher. No one knows yet that children will be obsessively tested. I agree that students should not be overly tested but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater; some testing needs to happen so teachers can use this to assess what the child knows and does not know which helps them move the child to where they need to be. Also, tests are helpful as one of the determinants (not the ONLY) of a teacher's performance.
In response to anonymous 3:25/3:29 request of me,and my last response to someone refusing to engage in civil discourse, please read: A Teacher Finds Good in Testing
August 31, 2011 by Ama Nyamekye
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/08/31/02nyamekye_ep.h31.html?tkn=MPNF2ac9BD539JWpvegye8WMMrgkohoiiaXn&intc=es
In respone to a request for documentation from anonymous 3:25 and 3:29, this being my last response to someone who is unable to engage in civil discourse, please read:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/08/31/02nyamekye_ep.h31.html?tkn=MPNF2ac9BD539JWpvegye8WMMrgkohoiiaXn&intc=es
A continuation of 8:45 comments--somehow did not get posted.
Please Read:
A Teacher Finds Good in Testing
August 31, 2011 by Ama Nyamekye
Ama Nyamekye writes that, when hype is stripped away, standardized tests can serve as a useful, if flawed, aid for teachers and students.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/08/31/02nyamekye_ep.h31.html?tkn=MPNF2ac9BD539JWpvegye8WMMrgkohoiiaXn&intc=es
A continuation of 8:45 comments--would not post in full.
Please Read:
A Teacher Finds Good in Testing
August 31, 2011 by Ama Nyamekye
Ama Nyamekye writes that, when hype is stripped away, standardized tests can serve as a useful, if flawed, aid for teachers and students.
http://www.edweek.org/search.html?qs=Ama+Nyamekye
September 11, 2011 11:32 AM
A continuation of 8:45 comments--would not post in full.
Please Read:
A Teacher Finds Good in Testing
August 31, 2011 by Ama Nyamekye
Ama Nyamekye writes that, when hype is stripped away, standardized tests can serve as a useful, if flawed, aid for teachers and students.
Go to edweek.org, use search to find Ama Nyamekye. Blog will not allow any direct links to article.
A continuation of 8:45 comments--would not post in full.
Please Read:
A Teacher Finds Good in Testing
August 31, 2011 by Ama Nyamekye
Ama Nyamekye writes that, when hype is stripped away, standardized tests can serve as a useful, if flawed, aid for teachers and students.
Find information on edweek website--this blog will not allow a link to be posted.
The blog deleted part of my last post and has deleted every post I made (at least 4)to provide the rest of the information. One more try--
Ama Nyamekye writes that, when hype is stripped away, standardized tests can serve as a useful, if flawed, aid for teachers and students.
Google her name to find the article as this blog won't allow any link.
In answer to Anonymous 3:25 and 3:29 questioning the factual nature of my points that testing has validity, and this will be the last time I will respond to a person who is not capable of engaging in civil discourse, I have tried to make this post several times but it disappears later. My response is to begin by reading an article by a teacher, Ama Nyamekye, "A Teacher Finds Good in Testing" August 31, 2011 @ Edweek.org
I would like to know how many teachers feel that their students education might be in jeopardy due to policies and procedures CMS as in place. Do you have an unusual amount of substitutes in your school due to all the new hires CMS has in place on paper, but have yet to show up in the classrooms? When the new hires finally arrive, do you find that they require tremendous amounts of training ? Have you noticed that the few experienced teachers that are still around to help are so stretched between trying to help new comers survive, and trying to prepare their students for testing, that real learning is being sacraficed all the way around? Lets hear from the real source...the teachers. If you do not work in the classroom, you can only speculate.
I gave a formative this past week. We were told that formatives are only for classroom planning and in no way are to be used to "grade" the teacher at the end of the year---and as the formatives are made by CMS and the alleged summatives will be made the Measurements, Inc... it would be ignorant to try to place my performance on two testing measures made by two different sources and have naught to do with the other. I told my kids to do their very best. Many will take an SAT or ACT in a year or so, so I told them to use this time as practice in working under a "time" constraint in real testing conditions. In fact, the next day, I had students write in their planners at least 3 things they feel they need to work on between now and the time they take the SAT/ACT and I also had them write down 3 colleges/universities they were considering to look up the "average" SAT score of their incoming freshman class. For students considering the military---I asked them to look up ASVAB data based on the types of jobs in the military they may want to do and the pre-req score required. Yes, I have a few who haven't even thought about what's coming next and may be looking at a job--and I reminded them that in life--critical thinking skills are a pre-req--and can be a costly OJT skill to learn. I didn't stress the kids out about it... I'm not stressed out about it and the next day we continued with our class. Sometimes in life we have to do things we don't always want to... do I think I need to give them a Formative, etc. blah, blah, blah--- no... it is a bit of a waste of time...we have previous EOC scores, etc. But... as I don't have a choice, I made the choice to not be bothered by it... It is not something I can control and MY ATTITUDE is. MY ATTITUDE every day in my classroom impacts my kids... THAT is what I CAN control... and so... we took a formative. Took as in past tense.... let's move forward.
I got to thinking this weekend while sitting looking out at the waves that imagine if the Government could control the rain.
Think how they would have the politics of handling it, and how some groups would start who wanted more at night and some during the day. What about the severity, the Farmers those who needed a clear day.
The Lighting Storms and the law suits for damages.
The Snow Storms and the wrecks created due to the disregard of the placement of the snow.
What about the erosion and the other causes like rust and damages as it degrades houses and roofs.
Yes it all comes down to who is responsible. The Government.
That is what we have been led to believe for so long that the Government is the saving grace in our society.
So just look down and there is the yellow brick road, just pick the one path which shines the brightest.
But in the mean time our hitting all these yellow brick street dead ends are doing nothing to help these kids.
So we all have several ideas on making the results of these test great, but not on helping the procedures by which they get there great.
That is everyone except Charter Schools and Schools of One, all of which are showing excellent promise all over the country.
1:09, I thank you for saying you will never again respond to me. I wonder if you have been able to find any research articles that supporting testing and pfp...I guess not.
Cms has determined the amount and type of testing, and how much it will count toward pfp, you silly girl! Why else stall truly including teachers into working on the process as required by STATE LAW (h966)? There is a plan, but they will wait to announce it. Why wait you ask? Well, silly outsider, they are hiring spin doctors to make us silly litle fools understand how good this will be for everyone! They are going to try and push h546 through in the short session of the legislature. (Look up h546 and read it, I doubt you have). Won't work...the legislature sees through this attempt by cms to throttle the teachers in this school
district. 546 is dead. The sooner cms realizes it the better.
You are not much of an education advocate if you have not done your research - well maybe you just believe everything you are told...
Hello all,
For those of you interested in research on standardized testing, I recommend the piece I recently wrote for Parents Across America, at http://parentsacrossamerica.org/2011/09/why-more-standardized-tests-wont-improve-education/. There simply isn't research evidence that more testing will work. It's all theory. And ironically, the theory doesn't even mesh with cutting-edge business theory about how to motivate employees and improve quality.
For those of you new to this debate, there are some long-running disagreements playing out in these pages, many of which date back to earlier battles over desegregation and equity, and many of which involve personal enmity. It's a little hard to follow, because most people post anonymously, but that's the way it is. I recommend that you do your own investigation of candidates, issues and organizations before making your choices, and pay limited attention to what's said here.
I will say that there is indeed considerable opposition to CMS's current testing expansion among parents in District 5 and 6, as I believe Ruth Samuelson could tell you. For example, the last time we at Mecklenburg ACTS tallied our petition signatures, we had more signatures from Providence Spring than from any other school. Talking to parent leaders at some of those schools is an excellent suggestion.
Testing is only one of the issues that Mecklenburg ACTS has dealt with over the years. We do not try to hide our positions on these various issues, including our interest in measures that would reduce the economic and racial segregation that currently plagues our schools. If you are interested in the kinds of things we have done in the past, please visit our website at www.mecklenburgacts.org. You are also welcome to e-mail us with questions; we have e-mails on the website.
Pamela Grundy
Co-chair, Mecklenburg Area Coming Together for Schools (Mecklenburg ACTS)
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H546v2.pdf
So can someone explain why CMS is so special that they have to have their very own bill????
Because Pete was utterly and completely blindsided in 2007 when he originally proposed this bill then called H966. The Legislature saw fit to add a clause to H966 gave teachers a vote on whether a pay for performance program would truly be placed upon them. You see, Pete wanted h966 to couple with a DOE grant to take teachers off the state pay scale, and any protection of the law, to show how paying teachers differently would work. The legislature correctly predicted Pete's devious nature and wrote in thst vote to FORCE the district to work with teachers to design a STRONG pfp system.
Fast Forward to last school year. Pete did not want to live up to his end of the bargain - so he could simply name a plan, not work with teachers to create one - so he called upon his BFF Ruth Samuelson to push h546 (the new bill) through the legislature.
Pete did not want to work with anyone, he was in charge and by god, he would see this through.
An unbelievable groundswell in grassroots advocacy powered people across the county - parents, teachers, and students - to rise up and let the legislature know exactly what they thought of this bush league move.
Now 546 is sitting in committee, while a few key congressmen discuss and debate...oh sorry, I started singing the School House Rocks song and got carried away.
Yeah the bill is just sitting there because among other things CMS wants to take away ANY AND EVERY law that protects teachers and treat them like Burger King workers (see section 6 of the h546).
People saw through the motives of the board and the superintendent. This is why the current election is so darn important!!!
NO TEACHERS ARE AFRAID OF PAY FOR PERFORMANCE. If you believe that you are not very bright, or are on the school board. Teachers are terrified a bill will be pushed through that can not work. Period. The bill as it stands will not in any way improve anything about teaching and learning!!!!! And this is about the kids, isn't it??
Let teachers participate and you will build something from the ground up that can truly change CMS. Do it the way CMS has tried for the past year and , well, the board will change this year, and in 2013.
People have LOOOONNNG memories...
AAHHH I NEED TO PROOF READ!!!
The above should say "NO TEACHERS ARE AFRAID OF PAY FOR PERFORMANCE. If you believe they ARE AFRAID OF IT, then you are not very bright, or on the school board."
My apologies!!!!!
I'd like to chime in here if I may.
To MissWhit, posted at 10:46a, September 10th - that was my wife who made the so-called false claim about a potential replacement to the District 6 seat. It's okay if you want to use my name, we're all adults here. She was simply recounting what she was told by 2 people (neither person was me, nor was I around when she heard it).
Just ask me, I'm happy to answer any question related to the school board.
To Anonymous, 1:09pm, September 11th. Check out this post from an 18-year teacher reacting to the Nyamekeye piece supporting testing.
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2011/09/john_thompson_takes_on_nyameky.html
Standardized testing has inherent flaws that make it a bad tool for assessing teacher performance. Even if it only comprises 10% of a teacher's overall evaluation, it's still a bad tool.
A few reasons why:
1 - A good, or valid, standardized test will provide results that make a bell curve. Meaning 50% of test takers will pass, 50% will fail. This is the goal of the test creator.
When devising questions for tests, the test writers have this in mind, therefore trial questions that that result in too many correct answers are not included on the final test.
This means that only certain parts of the curriculum will ever be tested. How is that fair to a teacher?
2 - A standardized test is timed and has finite questions. This means for most topic areas only 1, maybe 2, questions can be asked.
For example, a US History test that covers the colonies through the 20th Century will most likely have 1 question about the Declaration of Independence.
If the student in their haste to get through the test fills in the wrong bubble, the testing system presumes they do not understand the CMS subtopic standard about colonial independence.
But it's quite possible that same student aced a 20-question quiz administered by her teacher on the same subtopic standard.
Sadly, that will mean nothing in the end because CMS will not include that in any measure for overall student performance, nor teacher effectiveness.
This is because we are choosing not to trust our teachers.
3 - Standardized tests have margins of error. Have a student take the same test on 2 different days and you'll get 2 different scores.
The margin of error per test is probably around 3%, not too bad.
But the aggregate, or rather average test scores that would be used to assess teacher effectiveness could have much larger margins of error.
The 8th Social Studies teacher will have somewhere around 140-175 students, so the margin of error won't be too out of whack. But the 3rd grade teacher has only 25-30 students and her margin of error could easily reach 20%.
Think about that. The average test score for that 3rd grade teacher could place her in the ineffective range but the margin of error could be wide enough to place her among the best. Is that fair to the teacher?
Solution: Trust teachers. Test less.
Instead of relying on more testing for any percentage of the evaluation of teachers, what if instead we created a system of peer reviews done by other teachers plus school administrators?
With enough legwork and participation we could create a system that measures teacher performance by peer review that also gives us data about student achievement (which is different than student scores....let's confuse things by claiming that scores on standardized tests somehow equate to student achievement, they don't.).
This good data can easily be actionable to help teachers become more effective. It also fosters collaboration among teachers within their departments and within their schools. And many, many studies show that strong teacher collaboration within a school leads to better educated students.
Jeff
www.votejeffwise.com
Yow -- just got back from furlough and discovered that Blogger.com's spam filter apparently went on hyper alert for 9/11. Just restored lots of comments that got trapped.
Pam...
You do include yourself in your "personal enmity" comment, right?
Parents Across America and Mecklenburg ACTS, two groups who want to spend money at all cost without identifying who really needs to be targeted with funding.
PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA----
Proven Reforms: We support the expansion of sensible, research-based reforms, such as pre-K programs, full-day Kindergarten, small classes, parent involvement, strong, experienced teachers, a well-rounded curriculum and evaluation systems that go beyond test scores.
pre-K - more wasted funds for what is the responsibility of parents, not the nanny state!
Sufficient and Equitable Funding: Resources do matter, especially when invested in programs that have been proven to work.
More black holes without accountability. Title I funds and additional funding for low performing schools is based on fraud, with the biggest fraud being the school lunch program.
They don't want to talk about that because it blows a huge hole in their mission
Diversity: We support creating diverse, inclusive schools and classrooms whenever possible.
Since busing to achieve racial integration is dead, the new term in "income diversity".
This from the Mecklenburg ACTS site: One zone, called the Central Elementary Zone, would serve Title I elementary and pre-K schools. The other, called the Central Secondary Zone, would serve Title I middle and high schools. Non-Title I schools would be placed into three geographic zones: East, Northeast and Southwest. These zones would replace the current "learning communities."
As well as being more than 75 percent low-income, these zones would be approximately 94 percent minority.
Contrary to some public reports, the creation of the Title I zones would bring NO new resources to Title I schools.
We can actually CUT Title I funds to many schools because based on the fact potentially 60% of students receiving FRL DO NOT QUALIFY for the benefit, we could reduce funding to schools and spend it on hiring more teachers and decreasing class sizes.
Read up on these groups. Be aware and informed.
...left out one of the important Parents Across America bullet points:
Ignoring Poverty: The nation’s educational “crisis” is made worse by the widening gap between rich and poor. Along with investing in our schools, we should also be investing in families.
First, that is a blatant lie. As stated in the comment above, no one has a clue as to who the "poor" are who SHOULD BE receiving benefits because the USDA will not allow full, indepth audits above a 3% sample.
The 2010 US Census data conflicts greatly with the number of students CMS claims are at or below the poverty level by almost 45,000.
PPA's comment about rich and poor should send a signal to you that they support income redistribution by "investing in families"...
If these "families" don't know by now that education is the key to at least have a chance at a decent future for themselves and their kids, they will never get it.
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