Ravitch Review of WfS Breaks Long Silence on NAEP's Fanciful Cut Points
The entire review is well worth the reading, but the clip below is central, especially since it breaks Ravitch's long silence regarding the incredibly unrealistic NAEP cut scores that she helped to establish in the early 90s, along with Chester Finn and others who subsequently used the unrealistic cut scores to demonize public education.
As Richard Rothstein points out in Grading Schools . . . (pp. 59-65), the National Academy of Sciences, no less, had grave reservations about the NAEP cut points in 1991, but Ravitch and her standardista friends kept pushing the unrealistic goals. As Bracey subsequently pointed out repeatedly to little effect, if the children in other countries who are cleaning our clocks test-wise were to take the NAEP, they would not be proficient, either.
As Richard Rothstein points out in Grading Schools . . . (pp. 59-65), the National Academy of Sciences, no less, had grave reservations about the NAEP cut points in 1991, but Ravitch and her standardista friends kept pushing the unrealistic goals. As Bracey subsequently pointed out repeatedly to little effect, if the children in other countries who are cleaning our clocks test-wise were to take the NAEP, they would not be proficient, either.
