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A Letter from the Principal - 7/27/2010 9:13:56 AM
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aprilshowers12
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For the past year I have felt that our charter school has been slipping in their ability to control the students and their function in the classroom. I am friends with several of the teachers and have listend to them talk about the board adding numbers to the classrooms even though it is against the charter (they just changed it).  Anyway, our thought was it was going to show in statewide test scores at some point, this school has been an A+ school for 8 yrs. We received test scores last week. DS's scores dipped but he took the test on the heals of an MRI and a sleep deprived EEG. We were not concerned because of the health issues he had faced in the months leading up to the test. We told him that we felt that he would bounce back this year.
DD on the other hand is in a different school and her scores went up by A LOT.
We received the following letter from the principal and this is a cut and paste. What do you think?
July 24, 2010
Dear Parents:
The 2010 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) results for your child have been released. However, I would like to caution you at this time as to the accuracy of the results your child may have scored.
School districts, superintendents and charter school leaders across the state have requested an independent investigation into the entire 2010 FCAT process, including the accuracy of scoring.
Until the results of this investigation are known, one cannot with confidence state that the process was fair and that each child in this state received a completely accurate report of their results for this one assessment test, which is NOT a nationally normed referenced test, and simply reflects how a test taker performed on that particular day.
In my 37 years as a public school administrator having dealt with scores of national and state standardized assessments I have never questioned the integrity of the process or the results until this year. There will be, regardless of the outcome of this investigation, lingering doubt as to the true picture and final analysis of FCAT 2010.
Therefore, I am advising all of our district charter school leaders as well as parents to use their discretion in analyzing the final report of their student's profile, always remembering that what we do in the teaching of our children must be done in their best interest despite the disparate state of assessment.
Regards,
GH
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 7/27/2010 9:29:38 AM
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iluvatar
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According to news reports I've found, they changed the scoring system this year.
-Dan.
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Well, I've been to one world fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a set of earphones.
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 7/27/2010 12:03:23 PM
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JuliaHop
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It appears that there are a lot of schools questioning the results (including the public schools). Here is just one of many articles concerning possible problems with the scores:
http://www.newssun.com/0716-ct-FCAT
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For God so loved the World, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 7/27/2010 2:14:42 PM
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EsonTheSearcher
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Well, I am not too sure what all this means since there is no specific reason mentioned why the tests are "flawed"; the theory seems to be based just on a figures that students who had been doing really well have dropped in their performances on this test.
Is there any mention elsewhere of possible reasons for this "flaw" in the tests? 'Cause I would be hard-pressed to argue that the tests are completly inaccurate just because the well-to-do academically kids are now dropping in scores. That could be do to a number of reasons which would need to be determined on an individual basis and not based on numbers alone.
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 7/27/2010 2:37:29 PM
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theprincessbuttercup
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Honestly, pretty much ALL standardized tests measure how well a students did on a certain day more accurately than they do a student's overall performance. High stakes testing is a rather dubious way to test overall student achievement, and an even more dubious way to measure the value of school and teachers. However, we must have some data, so we work with what we have.
If you know that your child normally tests well and that he had health issues, I wouldn't worry about the dip in scores. To be statistically valid, a dip in scores really has to last three years or so. And if a test is not nationally normed, then that is a whole other issue.
There has long been a push to have more of a portfolio type assessment of students achievement, which would probably be a truer picture of overall progress. But it would be a lot more expensive than shooting bubbled in score sheets through a machine, so it probably won't happen anytime soon.
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Jude 24, 25
(My avatar is my daughter's artwork!)
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 7/27/2010 3:34:32 PM
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ebony101
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The school system is becoming too test oriented. Basically I believe that it's just a sneaky way to find out if teachers are teaching what they are supposed to teach. It's wrong to do this by testing the students though. I am in complete agreement with buttercup's statements quoted below:
quote:
ORIGINAL: theprincessbuttercup
ALL standardized tests measure how well a students did on a certain day more accurately than they do a student's overall performance. High stakes testing is a rather dubious way to test overall student achievement, and an even more dubious way to measure the value of school and teachers.
_____________________________
'We're writing a gospel, a chapter each day,
By the things that we do & the words that we say.'
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 7/27/2010 3:51:38 PM
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aprilshowers12
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quote:
If you know that your child normally tests well and that he had health issues, I wouldn't worry about the dip in scores. To be statistically valid, a dip in scores really has to last three years or so. And if a test is not nationally normed, then that is a whole other issue.
This is how I feel. We were not worried about my son's scores at all. My daughter's scores went up like they have for all the years she has been being tested. So, it makes me wonder what they think about the students whose scores went up?
quote:
There has long been a push to have more of a portfolio type assessment of students achievement, which would probably be a truer picture of overall progress.
In FL homeschoolers already have the option of doing this. They either test or do a portfolio. So why not public schools?
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 8/17/2010 3:47:23 AM
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Aelric
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I will say ahead of time that I know of NO way, other than one on one interaction over months and months that could work to fix this problem(and even that would require more people that we could ever have for school) but standardize testing, to me, is a farce. It is an attempt, sometimes good, sometimes bad, to place a numerical, quantitative score, on a qualitative idea,
"So, how good is this food, on a scale of one to one hundred"
Well if its food I don't like, such as asparagus, then I will score it low, no matter what, even if it is good asparagus.(I do know the analogy is a bit of a stretch, but you can get the idea)
Why is a child, who is considered genus level by everyone who spends time with him, and has an IQ well into the 150's told that he HAS to be held back a year, because his EOG scores are low. His reading comprehension is falling. The same child who sat in class during study periods reading Tolstoy, and Three Musketeers, understanding them, writing papers about them, but his EOG scores are low so he can't advance?????(EOG= End of Grade testing) Ben, my best friend in highschool is who I am referring to, and the sad thing with this is, he could hold an intelligent debate on any subject the EOG's asked about, but because of anxiety issues, he tests very poorly, and will often get the right answer, only to second guess himself, and third, and forth guess as well!
I think the idea of pushing more of a portfolio idea is a good one, but at times rather hard to do. It would take more manpower within the school, and quite a bit more people who were intelligent in the ideas being presented to read and critique the portfolio. A "gift" of standardized testing is the wonderful monstrosity of answer sheets. Anyone who can read, can grade.
Oh well, I dislike our current system, but sadly, I have no way to improve it. *shrug*
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Ever Vigilant, Ever Present, Never Seen, Never Known, NSDQ.
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 8/17/2010 6:43:51 PM
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theprincessbuttercup
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One of my friends who has spent years as a gifted ed teacher is doing her dissertation on the phenomenon of the gifted underacheiver. This is the child who is highly intelligent, a real thinker, but who for whatever reason cannot test well. Sometimes these students have a learning disability that masks just how bright they really are.....if all you do is a bubble test.
One day we will let our teachers AND our students fly....and what they do will amaze us. But it will mean we have to trust and respect them.
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Jude 24, 25
(My avatar is my daughter's artwork!)
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 8/17/2010 10:50:22 PM
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kernsfamily
Posts: 564
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From: Dallas (originally Detroit)
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quote:
One of my friends who has spent years as a gifted ed teacher is doing her dissertation on the phenomenon of the gifted underacheiver. This is the child who is highly intelligent, a real thinker, but who for whatever reason cannot test well. Sometimes these students have a learning disability that masks just how bright they really are.....if all you do is a bubble test.
I was definitely one of those kids. I am currently an accomplished/award-winning art director/graphic designer. It's impossible to measure my "intelligence" or whatever by a "bubble test"....
What I did recently discover just a few months ago (at age 42), is that an adult officially diagnosed with "undiagnosed adult asperger's syndrome", as I have pretty much had it, and have had all the common "symptoms" since childhood, BUT, when I was a kid, there was no such thing as AS. I was just referred to as a "different" or "weird" kid. It explained ALOT of how and why I was like I was when i was a kid.
Like one book that a woman, who was diagnosed as an adult, wrote...the title was "Pretending to be Normal". That pretty much covers it.
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Proud dad of 3 great girls....Blessed to have all of them in a "totally awesome" public elementary school!
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 8/24/2010 8:06:06 PM
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WasLostAmFound
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quote:
ORIGINAL: theprincessbuttercup
One of my friends who has spent years as a gifted ed teacher is doing her dissertation on the phenomenon of the gifted underacheiver. This is the child who is highly intelligent, a real thinker, but who for whatever reason cannot test well. Sometimes these students have a learning disability that masks just how bright they really are.....if all you do is a bubble test.
One day we will let our teachers AND our students fly....and what they do will amaze us. But it will mean we have to trust and respect them.
I have a friend who is a gifted ed teacher...she was wonderful to talk to when I struggled with my children. My 3 children are all "gifted", yet none of them graduated from high school. They all got burned out/bored by 10th grade and that was that. It seems there are (at least) two types of gifted kids...there's the intelligent overachiever who will happily write paper after paper and do project after project. Then, there's the "ok, I got it, let's move on" kid. I had 3 of the latter. The endless repetition and review bored them out of their skulls. I had one who had done some independent research on a topic in American History and the teacher shut her down. Another child read the entire English Lit book the first two weeks of classes, showed up for the tests, got A's on all of them but still failed the class because he wouldn't appear for the repetition and review.
Until schools are willing to embrace kids with "different" learning styles, no matter where they may be on the intellectual spectrum, schools WILL fail our children.
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Formerly known as NotDoneYet...but...God had other plans!!!! My new blog... http://retirednavywife.wordpress.com/
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RE: A Letter from the Principal - 8/24/2010 9:52:04 PM
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theprincessbuttercup
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I went to an laboratory elementary school that embraced the whole Piaget, constructivist, discovery learning, work at your own pace, interest based concept. It was WONDERFUL to be a right brained, creative kid in that school. I wrote and produced plays, worked on the pottery wheel at my leisure, did pre-algebra when I got bored, read all sorts of books I had no business reading because my reading level was so high.
Then I went to 7th grade in public school. The first six-weeks of math, I had a 100 test average without thinking much. I made an 80 on my report card. See, I got it, but since I got it, I didn't understand why I had to do something as mundane as homework. So I didn't - my homework average was 30. My mom was very wise. She appreciated the fact that I was so very smart. She also let me know that part of real life was day to day responsibility, and that I had better do my homework.
I think I got the best of both worlds. I got to spread my creative and intellectual wings in my "granola school," as I call it. But I learned in public school that in the real world we have to do "stuff."
I should point out that at my lab school, the teacher ratio was 1:20, but because it was on a college campus, there were constant interns, lab students, specialists, and professors in the classes. So it was really more like 1:5. THAT is why we could all be different. When one teacher teaches 25 kids with different learning styles and different intelligences and different backgrounds and different families and different problems and IEP's and...and...and...there's just no way one human being can construct a plan that varies among every single child in the room. So while I believe in teaching each child, I also know of whence I speak, and I don't know anyone who can juggle 25 different balls to everyone's satisfaction.
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Jude 24, 25
(My avatar is my daughter's artwork!)
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