In Washington, we had a standardized test called the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). It tested at three different points during a child’s educational career, with the last test being at a 10th Grade Level and given to high school seniors. They needed it to graduate, but could take it as many times as they needed to.
First, it was all about how the Mathmatics section was “too hard”, so they ditched that requirement. The Governor Gregoire got her second term, the lay-about State Schools Superintendant got voted out of office, and the legislature got tired of hearing from the same parents wvery time the topic of testing came up, so the test is now no longer required to graduate, though they’re still taking the test this year, and the state schools officials will be making up a new test.
One that can probably be taken with crayons and require the kids to grade themselves.
President Obama is being told by numerous folks in the NEA that the current round of test we use to compare ourselves internationally are no good and that we need to ditch them if he is to “transform” the school system. And I have no doubt that he is listening.
How can the Obama administration get it right in education when its data are all wrong and its assumptions about its faulty data are flawed?
President Obama recently told the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, “eighth-graders have fallen to ninth place.” That statistic comes from the 2008 round of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).
It’s true. But there were 45 nations in the study so being in ninth place means being ahead of 36 other nations. More important, when TIMSS first began in 1996, American eighth-graders finished 28th among 41 nations. Over 12 years, we have “fallen” up 19 ranks. Many would consider that extraordinary progress.
The president also said, “Only one-third of our 13- and 14-year-olds are reading as well as they should.” This is a finding from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). NAEP reports results in terms of the percent attaining the basic, proficient and advanced levels.
It is true that only about one-third of American 13- and 14-year-olds reach the proficient level. Is this awful? One study asked, How many students in other countries would reach this level? The answer for Sweden was about one-third. Sweden scored higher than any of the other 35 nations in the study.
Yay! We’re almost, though not quite, Average!
To paraphrase a Lewis Black skit: “Before President Obama was in charge, our schools were shitty, shitty, shitty. Now, they’re only farty, stinky, poopy!”
If they don’t like the results showing that our nation’s kids isn’t learning, then, by golly, they’ll change that damnable test out and replace it with something that shows their results in a better light.
I vaguely recall a comic strip way back when where the panicked kid is taking a test, and he gets to “Name:”
“NAME??? Name what? Name Who??? What NAME????”