January 2012 English Regents = 45 conversion opportunities for a 75+
August 2013 English Regents = 35 conversion box opportunities for a 75+
January 2014 English Regents = 30 conversion box opportunities for a 75+
"The Squeeze" created by corrupt/lazy Regents personnel whose needs to manipulate are greater than the need to help children.
Hitting a 75 or higher on the ELA Regents exam is one of those so-called "college readiness" measurements the state uses to evaluate schools and districts.
It is not a mistake that the conversion opportunities for 75+ have fallen from 45 two years ago to 30 now.
They are looking to use this stat to bludgeon teachers, schools and districts and use it as evidence for why their reform agenda must continue to be implemented.
BTW, the content on this year's test is much trickier than that of two years ago as well.
More difficult content, fewer conversion opportunities for a 75+, fewer conversion opportunities for a 65+ - in short, the NYSED and the Board of Regents rigged the ELA test this year for higher failure rates and lower college readiness rates.
When.will it become clear to people that tests, standardized in particular, are neither the objective measures nor panacea they have been sold as.Anyone with even a minimal understanding of psychometrics knows just how fallacious that canard is.
ReplyDeleteWhen we start to put human values above statistics, data and cash.
DeleteNeed to go back to scores based on 100 and tests that accurately evaluate material taught. Not everyone will pass but the answer is not too dummy down exams and to blame teachers for poor performance on any exams,
ReplyDeleteThis exam was bad, Pissed off teacher. I mean, the Part 3 is barely comprehensible. I have no problem with tests that are challenging, but they need to be fair too. This one was not, and the scoring chart is even less fair. There are a lot of kids failing this test this year - I saw it today. But I don't think this test, as flawed as it is (used to be two days, not it's one - and it's a half-baked one at that) is a proper measurement of student performance at all. I think the test was better when it was two days and there was more writing - you had a better sense of things with it. This one, kid just has to bag one part to go down.
DeleteHey Reality, what did you think of the, uh... Wow, I can't even remember, but whatever section the Short Response is in? Part 2, maybe?
DeleteThere was a short response about insight? I ended up with an 86 instead of a 90+ because for the first time ever, I lost a point on a short response. It's absolutely unfair. At least I believe that's where I lost it... It's been bugging me to no end, because I usually get a couple multiple choice wrong and a 4/6 on the essay.
So I end up with 25/25 on multiple choice and 8/10 on writing and my score is still an 86? I don't know, but that seems low for what it is.
What was the correct response to "insight" for the second passage about the man wasting time? I literally said "he is afraid that he will waste his time", or, "he is afraid that he will look back and find out he has wasted his time", or something along those lines. But I guess I lost a point, somehow. Really frustrating. :(