Tomorrow’s test scores
AUGUST 6, 2013 PM31 12:53 PM
Everyone involved in New York City educational policy – all levels of the DoE, the mayor, the UFT, the education reporters, pundits, activists – all are waiting for tomorrow’s scores.
And it’s a crock.
The scores will tell us nothing, except how students did on a test – a test that means very little at all.
The individual scores will tell us (well no, we won’t see the individual scores) how individual students did on one test…
This test was designed to “align” with the “Common Core” – but we know that test designers – NYS and private – lack the skill to produce a “good” test, whatever that might look like. Think of mistakes on Regents Exams (past year, math only: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Think of Speedy, the Blusterous Pineapple.
Even if the tests were well-written (I should stop there, contrafactual), but even if they were, alignment with the common core seems unlikely. Here a group of principals posit that the NYS exams focused on the testable part of the standards. They also point out that nine hours over three days becomes a test of stamina. (Folks, three hours of a hard exam is a test of stamina.