Miami Dade Superintendent Addresses Congress; Urges Revamp of the Way Students are Measured
Miami Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho joined educators from Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Mexico before a congressional committee yesterday and urged them to revamp “how the federal government measures student success.”
Above all, they criticized how the existing law compares test scores from one group of students to another (for example, this year’s ninth-graders to last year’s ninth-graders) instead of measuring how one group of student improves over time (this year’s ninth-graders in August compared to May). Schools, they argued, should find out if students are learning at least a year’s worth of material in one year.
The four educators also suggested the law — which breaks down student scores in reading and math into categories of race, disability and poverty — also take into account science and writing. Members of Congress said teachers and parents are frustrated by an emphasis on reading and