After all the wasted test-prep hours and Common Core testing madness...
"We've been writing and meeting with ISBE officials for over two years to stop this madness. We've told them that our technology isn't ready, our Common Core curriculum isn't ready and the test will be hurting kids," said Argo Community High School District 217 Superintendent Kevin O'Mara, who also is president of the Illinois High School District Organization.
The results from last spring's PARRC exams are dismal by anyone's standards.
No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. Statewide, even counting the wealthy high-scoring districts, selective-enrollment schools and privately-run charters, we're seeing single digits (2% of 3rd graders, 5% of high school students) in numbers of kids exceeding expected measurable outcomes in language arts/literacy. Nearly 70% fail rate across the state.
I'm still waiting to see how this breaks out in Chicago and by race and special ed.
Millions of dollars spent on Common Core and PARRC testing (you're welcome Pearson). Thousands of classroom hours diverted away from teaching/learning and into testing and test prep. School districts threatened with loss of funding if parents opted-out. Teachers evaluated, paid, promoted and fired, using skewed Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: After all the wasted test-prep hours and Common Core testing madness...:
