Nation’s “Leading School Takeover Expert” Calls Connecticut Mastery Test “Not Very Helpful” - Wait, What?

Nation’s “Leading School Takeover Expert” Calls Connecticut Mastery Test “Not Very Helpful” - Wait, What?:

Nation’s “Leading School Takeover Expert” Calls Connecticut Mastery Test “Not Very Helpful”

by jonpelto

For the last six months we’ve seen Governor Malloy and Education Commissioner Pryor stake their careers on tying Connecticut’s Master Test to a new teacher evaluation system that they claim will allow administrators to determine which teachers are doing their job successfully and which need to be removed from the classroom.

In an extraordinary exchange on education expert Diane Ravitch’s nationally respected blog, (see http://dianeravitch.net/2012/05/31/test-test-test-test-another-day-in-bridgeport/), Bridgeport’s Superintendent of Schools Paul Vallas, and his Chief Administrator, Dr. Sandra Kase, make the case that Connecticut’s Mastery Test is flawed.

Vallas, who has run the school systems in Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans, said “I have always been critical of annual state tests that are high stake, that are too narrow,