This past spring saw the rollout of new tests based on the Common Core standards. The reading and math tests replace traditional spring standardized tests. About 12 million students in 29 states and the District of Columbia took the tests developed by two groups — the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).According to Smarter Balanced, only a few states have released scores from the spring — Connecticut, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Missouri, West Virginia, and Vermont. Most states have not been able to put out test scores before the start of classes. The delay was expected in the exam's first year, but it's still frustrating for some teachers and parents.Scores for the almost 5 million students who took the PARCC tests still have yet to be released. PAARC is still setting benchmarks for each performance level. The partnership says they're due for release this fall, and that the goal in future years of the tests is to release the results as close to the end of the school year as possible.
Just as with the New York Common Core tests, the benchmarks aren't set until long after the students take their tests.
With the old New York State Regents exams, the benchmark scores were set before students took their tests and were posted right after the test ended.
That seems like a fair and honest way to do things - set the passing mark before students take the test.
But in the Era of Common Core, when educrats and reformers wanted to rig the tests for 70% failure rates, all of these Common Core tests, including the high school tests, are benchmarked long after students take their tests and the results are in.
Rigged?
You betcha!
If not, why not set the benchmarks before, the way they used to with the Regents exams?
Simple - they're playing with the numbers, manipulating them for their own political ends.
But as we've seen with the opposition to testing growing over the past few years, the more games the educrats and reformers play with the Endless Testing regime, the more the opposition to testing grows.
So keep playing games, folks.
You are fooling fewer and fewer with the manipulation and lies.
They can't be expected to accurately predict where the 70% failure mark will fall in advance.
ReplyDeleteAbigail Shure
Here in NYS the Common Core math and ELA tests (grades 3 to 8) are producing CHRONIC, INSTITUTIOANLIZED FAILURE. Seven out of 10 students entering grades 8, 7, and 6 have now experienced three consecutive years of failure under the Regents Reform Agenda and Common Core testing.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of system intentionally wages psychological war against its children? And to what end?
Notice that NYSED has yet to release statewide pass/fail rates for the new Common Core aligned Algebra I Regents test which is a graduation requirement. Think they are between a rock and a hard place on this?
ReplyDeleteThe pass mark (65%) was set as low as the old test - around 35% correct (raw score). The real scam is as the scale goes higher it goes "upside down". I'd have to double check but I believe you needed a 93% raw score to get a 90% scaled score.
DeleteAs usual it's a NYSED cop-out. Incredibly low score to pass, but to earn a "3" or "4" it's incredibly difficult. That way they can say there are too many 2's out there (but without the parents going nuts- which isn't really working out anyway).
Forgive the off topic question but does your blog title refer to China Mieville's Perdido Street Station? I'm just curious....haven't met many who have read his books!
ReplyDelete