Six on Schools: Scores of 'zero' hint at flaws with grade 3-8 ELA test questions; “They Can't Kill Us All”: Teaching about Gu
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Scores of 'zero' hint at flaws with grade 3-8 ELA test questions
So many 'zero' scores add up to questions about state grade 3-8 ELA tests
Gary Stern | Rockland/Westchester Journal News 2:12 p.m. EDT July 6, 2018
Video: Education Commissioner discusses test scores
Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia discusses the test scores for students in 3-8 grades in a video released by the state Education Department on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017.
Joseph Spector, Albany Bureau
It's a ritual of summer: Parents receive their children's standardized test scores for grades 3 to 8 and have to figure out New York State's mysterious 1-4 scoring scale. Most probably figure out that a 3 means that a student was "proficient" in math or ELA, an achievement that non-educators commonly equate with passing.
Fewer parents probably know that different types of questions on the state's tests have different scoring scales that start below 1. At zero. The big zilch.
A new study by the Benjamin Center at SUNY New Paltz looks at the curiously high percentages of students who received zeroes on certain types of ELA questions between 2013, when New York introduced tests aligned to the Common Core standards, and 2016.
The title of the study gives away the report's conclusion: "Tests are Turning Our Kids Into Zeroes: A Focus on Failing."
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The authors, Fred Smith and Robin Jacobowitz, argue that so many kids got zeros on certain questions, reflecting a complete inability to cope with the material, that the tests must have been flawed. "We conclude that testing instruments that put children in a virtual stupor cannot be defended as sound testing practice, nor as a way to raise standards or serve as a foundation for high-stakes decisions..."
The study looks at two types of ELA questions: short response questions, which are scored on a 0-2 scale; and extended response questions, scored on a 0-4 scale.
A key finding is that third- and fourth-graders struggled, reflecting longstanding concerns about the appropriateness of the state tests for its youngest takers. One example: The percentage of zeros on third-grade tests rose from 11 percent in 2012 (the last year before Common Core-based tests) to 18 percent in 2013 to 22 percent in 2016. "The failure here may be in the questions themselves or the belief that it is developmentally acceptable to ask eight-year-olds to sit for extended periods of time to take these exams," the authors write.
Among New York City students, those with disabilities and those who were English language learners had substantially higher percentages of zeroes than other students.
Smith and Jacobowitz are veteran critics of the state's testing program. Smith is a retired testing analyst for the New York City schools who has belonged to a group promoting the "opt out" movement in the city. Jacobowitz is director of education programs at the Benjamin Center and a member of the Kingston Board of Education.
In response to the report, Emily DeSantis, spokeswoman for the state Education Department, said that the Board of Regents and Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia have spent three years listening to parents' and educators' concerns and have made "significant changes to the assessments in response." This year's ELA and math tests, for instance, were reduced from three days each to two days.
In the weeks after this year's tests, though, educators continued to express concerns about the clarity and age-appropriateness of test questions. Rye Schools Superintendent Eric Byrne, in a letter to parents, wrote that some text passages on the 2018 ELA test were "above the appropriate comprehension level" for many students and that some questions were "poorly constructed."
"Many students were distressed and expressed frustration to teachers and administrators," he wrote.
The debate will surely continue as New York moves toward creating new tests that align with the state's slightly revised standards. Elia and the Board of Regents ought to be super cautious about threatening school districts where high rates of parents opt their kids out from the tests. The state's massive plan for complying with federal education law promises that districts that "persistently and substantially fail" to hit 95-percent participation will have to produce a series of reports and audits.
But Elia's new guidelines for that plan also note that the education commissioner may require districts to spend part of their federal Title I money — intended to offset the effects of poverty — to increase student participation on tests. This would be a mistake. Instead, earn public support by building the credibility of your tests over time. There's no shortcut.
Clarify what the value is to students and teachers. As Smith and Jacobowitz wrote, "Questions that yield so many zeroes do not return much substantive, diagnostic information about test takers."
Gary Stern is engagement editor. Twitter: GarySternNY
“They Can't Kill Us All”: Teaching about Gun Violence – Alan Singer on Daily Kos | Jacqueline Kucich is a former prosecutor, the daughter of a card-carrying N.R.A. member, a mother of three, and a middle school social studies teacher at a Catholic school. Jackie earned her teacher certification at Hofstra University. She sent me her... | |
Teaching Learning Technology
290 Hagedorn Hall / 119 Hofstra University / Hempstead, NY 11549
(P) 516-463-5853 (F) 516-463-6196
"Social studies within national education policy context remains absent. No Child Left Behind legislation, Race to the Top, and the more recent Common Core State Standards movement do not single out social studies in the same manner as math, reading, English language arts, and science. STEM incentives solidify notions of sacred content and reinforce the elusive status of social studies. Even though efforts have been made by national social studies organizations to elevate the discipline’s standing, state and local priorities appear to be driven by formalized policies and funding directives. Amidst an entrenched testing culture and the prevalence of associated remediation demands, trends suggest that nontested subjects compete for importance, scramble for instructional time, and are forced to grapple with secondary status (Center on Educational Policy, 2007, 2008; Fitchett & Heafner, 2010; Lazarin, 2014). Thus, nontested subjects, like social studies, are often relegated to the sidelines of the elementary school curriculum (Au, 2009; VanFossen, 2005; Wills & Sandholtz, 2009).
The marginalization of social studies is particularly problematic for ELs in U.S. schools. ELs often lack "a working knowledge of American culture that can serve as a schema for new social learning" (Cruz & Thornton, 2013, p. 3), making the opportunity to learn social studies, more urgent. Social studies has the distinct purpose of developing well-informed, active, responsible, and engaged citizens who are well versed in discipline literacies, academic language, and unique ways of knowing. College, career, and civic life readiness are the cornerstone of social studies curricula (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013), representing goals which are equally important to first- and second-generation immigrants. Social studies is about “democratic values and their importance for personal, social, and civic decision making” (McGuire, 2007, p. 621). Yet, educational policies and associated accountability pressures, as well as changes in teacher training and textbooks have shifted the balance from civic and citizenship preparation to an academically narrow curriculum (Levine, Lopez, & Marcelo, 2008). Furthermore, the absence of social studies instruction for a growing EL population poses concerns in light of research examining the relationship between social studies instructional and political behaviors, such as electoral engagement and civic participation, among older immigrant youth (Callahan, Muller, & Schiller, 2008, 2010)."
High faculty turnover, high student attrition, and booming funding are making charters
into the perfect weapon to destroy our public school system.
"NPE’s investigation found a similar pattern at a BASIS charter school in Arizona, part of a nationwide charter network. Drawing on an earlier report by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, and reflecting the findings of an ACLU investigation into de facto segregation at Arizona charters, NPE argues that, despite heavy private financing, the school falls short in equity. The predominantly white and Asian-American student body of the BASIS Phoenix school contrasts with the high-poverty, mostly Latino surrounding district. With about 200 students total, BASIS Phoenix ultimately graduated just 24 students in 2016, after shedding 44 percent of the graduating grade’s students over the previous four years. The statistics, which matched similar trends across Arizona’s charter sector, suggest charters may actually be perpetuating the discrimination and exclusionary practices that they claim to help remedy.In response, several school administrators claimed to be striving to address racial disparities. BASIS has forcefully denied that it is abetting inequality in Arizona’s schools, stating that it is “incredibly proud of the diverse nature” of its schools. BASIS.ed also issued a public rebuttal to NPE contending that its chain of schools, overall, maintained high retention rates, did not discriminate by background or ethnicity, and attracted a diverse range of families, as well as donations from them.
But the values of the BASIS network don’t necessarily reflect community diversity. The NPE report cites a third-party analysis of BASIS in a high-profile ranking of schools, America’s Most Challenging High Schools: BASIS Phoenix earned a top rating, according to publisher Jay Mathews, based on standards focused on performance scores. BASIS denies that it unfairly screens out children, citing overall high retention rates across the network for most K–12 classes. But the company, which admits it is “not for everyone” and that students do leave, also promotes a structure that prioritizes retaining high-scoring students, while lower performers realize eventually they can’t meet the standards.
This approach may boost the schools’ business competitiveness, but education advocates who focus on the social goal of providing equitable education for all see it differently. As NPE argues, “there must be a balance between reasonable challenge and inclusivity.” The demographic polarization linked to charter-school expansion, critics warn, exposes the harmful impact of exclusion on diversity: Charters claim to serve diverse populations, but may actually just be segregating the system further."
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"I checked with teachers, and this is what they said.
The test scores are released long after the student has left his or her teacher and moved to a different teacher.
Most of the questions are released, but the teacher never learns which questions individual students got right or wrong.
The tests have NO DIAGNOSTIC VALUE.
The tests have NO INSTRUCTIONAL VALUE.
Apparently, it means a lot to Commissioner Elia to compare the scores of different districts, but that comparison is of no value to teachers, principals, or parents.
One middle school teacher said this to me:
“…the whole exercise is meaningless at the classroom level. Admins might look at the data when it comes to certain skills/content areas, but without looking at the questions/answers, it is not helpful for us in the trenches.”
Another teacher told me:
“…we do not get student-specific results for each question, we are supposed to look at statewide results and then somehow extrapolate that back to our classrooms, the following year, with different kids. So this is a BLUNT tool at best and students get no individual diagnostic benefit.”
The state tests are pointless and meaningless. They have no diagnostic value whatever for individual students.
Every parent in New York should understand that their children are subjected to hours of testing for no reason, other than to allow the Commissioner to compare districts. Their children receive no benefit from the testing. No teacher learns anything about their students, other than their scores.
The state tests are pointless and meaningless. They have no diagnostic value for students—or teachers.
OPT OUT.
OPT OUT.
OPT OUT."
