The Lunacy of an Achievement Gap
How did YOUR child score on…?Achievement gap? This commonplace term is, in reality, meaningless when children (little human beings) are measured by the federal, state and local mandated high stakes tests (all brands) that assume that their numbers are facts.
Numbers are numbers. Facts are facts. Ask any actuary.
(Example of a number versus a fact: Never attempt to walk across a lake that has an average depth of 4 feet. If you have to think about this for more than 10 seconds, you are on the wrong end of all achievement gaps.)
(Example of a number versus a fact: Never attempt to walk across a lake that has an average depth of 4 feet. If you have to think about this for more than 10 seconds, you are on the wrong end of all achievement gaps.)
“There are two things by which students – and, now, teachers – are evaluated: benchmarks and growth. Standardized tests label judge students as basic, proficient, or advanced based on their performance on a super-secret summative assessment – and expect proficiency, at least. Then there’s VAM – or Value-Added Measures. After labels judgments are dispensed, determinations are made – based on scores from The Test – whether or not students made a year’s worth of growth based on invalidated junk science. So – for those keeping score at home – both state and federal governments would have public schools achieve proficiency (or better) at 100% and achieve a year’s worth of growth (or better) for all students while closing a gap in achievement at the same time.”
Now, if that oxymoronic thought process doesn’t give you a headache, nothing will.
Please remember that today’s entire high stakes testing craze is all about $$$$$$$, $800 billion last year alone. Children, teachers, schools and legislators are being used as excuses for creating this new wealth source for multinational investors and hedge fund managers in The Lunacy of an Achievement Gap | Reclaim Reform:
Please remember that today’s entire high stakes testing craze is all about $$$$$$$, $800 billion last year alone. Children, teachers, schools and legislators are being used as excuses for creating this new wealth source for multinational investors and hedge fund managers in The Lunacy of an Achievement Gap | Reclaim Reform: