TEACHERS & ADMINISTRATORS TOGETHER: NEA and AASA Executives Call on Congress to Get Serious About Investing in Education
Press Release | http://bit.ly/I84dwS Alexandria, Va. – November 21, 2013 – Today, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and AASA Executive Director Daniel A. Domenech released the following statement: "The austerity policies ushered in by Congress aren’t working. They are harming our students and our economy," said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. "In fact, the across-the-board cuts, coup
4 STORIES + A PRESS RELEASE ON “TESTING THE TEST”: The headline says students will be tested …that isn’t quite true
Altered state plan will test students in English and mathBY HOWARD BLUME - LATIMES.COM HTTP://LAT.MS/1FQVVYLNovember 22, 2013, 5:31 a.m. :: State officials Thursday announced that nearly all California students will take new standardized tests in English and math this spring. The previous plan had been to test students in either English or math but not both. The revised approach was hailed by the Los Angeles Unified School District, which had lobbied for the state to pay for students taking tests in both subjects. "The motivator was that we heard from a lot of districts and school officials and teachers that they wanted to see both halves of the test," said state Chief Deputy Supt. Richard Zeiger. This round of testing was never meant to generate test scores or data for schools. Rather it is a "test of the test," as officials put it, to make sure questions and the exam as a whole are valid and reliable. In the following year, the test will begin to yield results for studentsg to be." CA offers Duncan potential solution to testing issueBY TOM CHORNEAU | SI&A CABINET REPORT ::HTTP://BIT.LY/1G1X7FP | State expands field tests of Common Core-aligned assessmentsBY BARBARA JONES, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS |HTTP://BIT.LY/1I1C6ZDPosted: 11/21/13, 5:44 PM PST :: The field test of California’s new computer-based assessments will be expanded so that nearly every student will take exams next spring in both math and English, rather than being limited to one or the other, officials said Thursday.High school juniors, students in grades three through eight, plus a small sampling of ninth- and 10th-graders will participate in field tests of the Smarter Balanced assessments. According to the state, 95 percent of the kids will be given questions in both content areas, plus one performance task — a more complex problem — in either English or math. “Expanding the field test for hundreds of thousands of students to take both sets of assessments will mean more hands-on experience for them and their teachers, as well as more opportunity to identify any technological needs,” said Mike Kirst, president of the state Board of Education. “California will be starting from a solidly built foundation when these assessments become operational next school year — and that’s good for our students, our schools and our state.” Officials said they expanded the plan in response to requests from local school districts. Los Angeles Unified, for instance, had planned to pay some $2 |