In response to the 11/2/2012 post, “Accountability – A Reasonable Plan –Part 1,” an old school LYSer writes:
SC,
I’ll follow your format and respond to your clarifications point bypoint.
Point 1 - TooMuch Testing: I too, like EOC’s and agree we have to test the prescribedcurriculum. Electronic testing would require a huge investment in schooltechnology and infrastructure. This is a problem since the state cut thetechnology allotment. And we agree that most of the testing issues arisefrom administrative rules from the state: small group testing; the prohibitionfrom testing students taking the alternative test in the same room as theregular test, and it goes on and on.
SC – I’m notso sure that the electronic testing option is as cost prohibitive today as itwas yesterday. Defensive drivingcourses are available to anyone on-line at this time and all that is requiredis a device and a connection. Asfor a state investment in technology, over time the on-line testing wouldquickly pay for itself. Pearsonmay not make $500,000,000.00 on the next testing contract, but call me anoptimist, I’m sure they will find a way to stay afloat.
Point 2 – AnIrrelevant Curriculum: As I mention in point one, if there is a prescribedcurriculum, we should assess that curriculum.
SC – I’lltake this one step further. If wehave a prescribed curriculum and we do not assess it, then in practice we do nothave a prescribed curriculum. Instead what we have is a poorly implemented orcompletely ignored suggestion.
Point 3 – TheOne-Shot, High Stakes Test: Agreed. I would suggest a spring test, summerretest, and October retest. That gives the school and the parent plentyof time for instructional interventions. If I only had two shots it needsto be spring and October. Some parents refuse to allow their children toattend summer school. That's a fact of life that schools can do nothingabout. If the student passes any of the three, it counts as a pass forthe school.
SC – We couldargue the details of timing until the cows come home. What is important is that we agree that a no penalty re-testis reasonable and do-able. Electronic testing would actually facilitate more immediate and focusedinterventions and reduce the time window between the original test and there-test. This is important becausethe longer the student is trapped in a remediation loop, the further he/shefall behind his/her peers.
Point 4 – AnArbitrary Exemption: Agreed and well stated.
Point 5 – TheStandardized Test: Agreed. If there is a way to get Pearson out of ourtesting business, even better. Let’s have a standards based test instead of a standardized test. We could even have a statewide teacherdeveloped question bank for each Student Expectation, built on the model usedin the LYS Curriculum Based Assessment process.
Point 6 – Youare Only as Good as Your Weakest Link: Agreed again. Yes, a workablesolution to this is the Cain Solution: schools get weighting for theirpopulations. The 90% level for a district like Southlake-Carroll ishardly a challenge. They are already there in all sub-pops (the criticalattribute of an affluent minority student is affluent, not minority). The 90%level in most schools would take substantially more work. This should bereflected in the accountability rating.
SC – And theaccountability system in its current format penalizes the at-risk school whileallowing the non at-risk school to simply maintain the status quo. We need asystem that forces every school to step-up its game.
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