NY test scores have been a sham

[erodriguez]

The house of cards finally topples.

This is really an indictment of the Bloomberg/Klein agenda to fix the system.

Top down prescriptions do not help needy kids. Maybe this will change the attitude of the "know better than you" administrators/non-educators when it comes to working with parents and teachers.


From the article:

New York State education officials, admitting that the state’s annual tests were not properly measuring student proficiency, released results Wednesday showing that more than half of New York City students were failing to meet state standards in reading, at a time when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg boasted that more that more than two-thirds of city’s students were reading at grade level.

After researchers concluded that the state exams had steadily become easier to pass, state officials said last week that they would recalibrate the way the tests were graded, warning educators to brace themselves for a harsh wake-up call.

New York City officials said that if the passing rates since 2006 were adjusted to match the new scoring standards, the city had shown substantial progress over all. But that explanation is likely to offer little consolation to teachers and parents who must now face the reality that just more than half of city students in the third through eighth grades are proficient in math, not four out of every five, as they were led to believe last year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/education/29scores.html?_r=1

[erodriguez]

1. Reaction from a NYC teacher

At what point will the newspaper people look at the mess created by Bloomberg and Klein and say, "Oh, we were wrong. The reforms have NOT worked. Bloomberg and Klein do NOT know what the fuck they are doing with the school system. And since the Obama/Duncan plan is the Bloomberg/Klein plan on steroids, the RttT/Obama NCLB Jr. plan will NOT work either"?

I know, I know - silly reality-based educator.

Why blame the people who run the school system and made all the policy changes (how many curriculum changes and DOE re-organizations have we had since Kleinberg ate the school system whole?) when you can blame teachers who have been forced to carry out the boss's orders instead.

http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2010/07/now-that-state-calls-bullshit-on.html

[LWolf]

2. Scapegoating is such a productive political tool.

How do we become louder, more persistent, and more effective than those framing the Obama/Duncan plan as "reforming" failing schools?

[immoderate]

3. Always refer to it as the school DESTRUCTION plan.

Hey, it's a start.

--imm

[erodriguez]

4. Maybe. The Media does love soundbites.

[erodriguez]

5. Charter Schools drop as well

ELA, NYC went from 69 percent of students passing exam last year to 42 percent of students passing this year – a 27 point - or 39% - decline. Statewide drop: 77.4% down to 53.2% -- a 24 point drop and a 31% decline. Charter school dropped from 76.1 to 43%; a 33 point drop and a 43% decline.

In Math, NYC went from 81.8 % passing in 2009 to 54% passing this year. A 28 point drop and a 34% decline. Charters went from 89.4% proficiency to 59.9%, a 29.5 point drop; a 33% decline. Statewide: 86.4 to 61: 25.4 point drop and a 29% decline.

[erodriguez]

6. kick for the evening