UPDATE: I’m not an educator. I just play one while working at the state capital. Interesting info on data points from #SXSWedu – @ the chalk face

@dianeravitch is talking about @shankerinst who’s talking about MD – @ the chalk face:

#edTPA fun fact number one…

by Chalk Face, PhD

… you can successfully “calibrate” your ability as a scorer by putting in all 3′s on the five point score scale, without ever reading the actual TPA document.
And that was edTPA fun facts, brought to you by At the Chalk Face

Student writes #YOLO on his test and is suspended, #stuvoice?

by Chalk Face, PhD

TX high schooler suspended for refusing to take standardized test,writing “YOLO :)” on it & turning it in: gawker.com/5993322/school… #FreeKyron
— Micah Uetricht (@micahuetricht) April 2, 2013

I’m not an educator. I just play one while working at the state capital.

by Timothy D. Slekar

Yesterday, Carnegie Mellon University English professor Kathy M. Newman published an opinion piece about high stakes testing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that has since gone viral.  The title was simple: Why I Won’t Let My Son Take The PSSA.  The passage itself was powerful and very well articulated.  For example after talking about the problems the PSSAs (NCLB tests in PA) were causing at home, Professor Newman said:

Then one day this March it dawned on me. I am getting angry at my son about a test. A test that I do not like. A “high-stakes” test that will put so much pressure on Jacob that it probably will not reflect his true abilities. I also realized something else: Jacob does not love to read.
After doing some research and talking with other parents, my husband and I decided to “opt out” Jacob from the PSSA tests. We are opting him out because we do not like what high-stakes tests are doing to Jacob, to our family, to his teachers, to his school and, ultimately, to our entire education system.

I immediately thought of my son Luke and how at the point of frustration

@dianeravitch is talking about @shankerinst who’s talking about MD

by Chalk Face, PhD

I’m in MD. Might I know something about it?
I don’t really follow Matt Di Carlo, but I have to say that I don’t quite get the satire. If you have to explain it’s satire, then I think you missed it. Stick to what you know, best advice.
In any event, MD gets some pretty good results, if by results you rely on test scores. But the NAEP is something that I can live with. MD has numerous very wealthy counties, like Howard and Montgomery. Rich kids carry the state, while other kids languish in Baltimore City, PG County, or Dundalk. I think this is the reason for such high scores. You have to be the richest of the absolute rich to afford private schools, so most of the affluent still rely on decent public schools in their areas.
MD is a right to work state, so the unions aren’t really so powerful.
MD did implement market-based reforms, with increased testing

Interesting info on data points from #SXSWedu and #edtech community, @leoniehaimson

by Chalk Face, PhD

To what extent will data be used in schools, if the tech gurus get their way:

The personalized learning that ed-tech pioneers are talking about now involves using data points like test scores, attendance and, perhaps someday, information about students gathered from games or their internet searches, to home [sic] in what students need academically. Maybe more high-tech systems and detailed data would have helped teachers recognize how far behind many students were on the path to graduation. [emphasis added]

Who on earth, especially in their school, would have or should have info on students’ internet searches? Hey wait, didn’t a school get sued for snapping webcam photos of students on school issued laptops? YES, AND THE DISTRICT SETTLED!
This is a huge privacy issue and we shouldn’t let any ham-fisted argument, like the following, convince us to give