dianeravitch posted: According to Politico, Senator Lamar Alexander is considering eliminating the federal mandate for annual testing in grades 3-8. Charles Barone of the hedge fund managers Democrats for Education Reform is alarmed by this proposal, claiming it is an Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on Diane Ravitchs blog DFER: Without Annual Testing, How Can We Compare States? by dianeravitch According to Politico, Senator Lamar Alexander is considering eliminating the federal mandate for annual testing in grades 3-8. Charles Barone of the hedge fund managers Democrats for Education Reform is alarmed by this proposal, claiming it is an equity issue that would make it impossible to compare states. Why the need to compare test scores is an equity issue is unexplained. Apparently Barone--who used to work for Congressman George Miller, senior Democrat on the House Education Committee--is unfamiliar with NAEP. That is the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which has been testing American students since 1969. It has been comparing states since 1992 and disaggregating scores by race, gender, language, and disability status. I hope proponents of annual testing will soon explain how comparing states creates equity. We know that Mississippi has lower scores than Massachusetts, whether we test annually or every three years. The gap is not changed by knowing about it more frequently but by funding schools attended by low-performing students so they can have smaller classes, more arts programs, more specialists, better paid professionals, and amply supplied and staffed libraries. Here is the story: THE GOP DRAFT YOUVE BEEN WAITING FOR: Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander unveiled a discussion draft Tuesday night detailing his plan for reauthorizing No Child Left Behind. It borrows heavily from his 2013 proposal [1.usa.gov/1C4GZNS ] and if passed, it would take the federal government right out of some of the Obama administrations most contentious policies - providing relief to states that havent met the administrations bar for accountability systems and teacher evaluations. The bill would give states the option to make more than $14 billion in Title I funding portable across public schools. Alexanders draft also makes clear that the federal government would have no involvement in states academic standards - although states would have to set high standards. When it comes to testing, one option would allow districts to forgo annual exams. Maggie Severns reports: politico.pro/14SYoPQ Read the discussion draft here: 1.usa.gov/1swgqBH - Some feel that testing option would make it impossible to compare results at the state level. This, by extension, becomes an equity issue, said Charles Barone, policy director for Democrats for Education Reform. Any effort to advance equity requires comparability of student circumstances across zip codes, incomes, race, disability, etc. Any accountability system that drives to improve the achievement of those students and target resources toward them is out the window if every school or district is held accountable based on a different set of numbers. dianeravitch | January 14, 2015 at 2:30 pm | Categories: Democrats for Education Reform, NAEP, No Child Left Behind, Testing | URL: wp.me/p2odLa-9oQ Comment See all comments Like Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Diane Ravitchs blog. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: dianeravitch.net/2015/01/14/dfer-without-annual-testing-how-can-we-compare-states/ Thanks for flying with WordPress
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 00:36:17 +0000
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