Re: WashPost Letter on Teaching to the Test

[aburke5054@aol.com]

It's not clear to me that teaching to the MCAS should automatically 
translate into higher scores on NAEP and it is certainly clear to me 
that an ever-increasing rate of improvement is unlikely.  In any event, 
and ironic for one who criticizes another writer for misrepresenting 
the facts, Guibond herself omits relevant information from the MA NAEP.

From 2003 to 2007, the percentage of MA fourth graders at or above 
proficient in math went up 17 points, the percentage of 8th graders 
went up 13 points, the percentage of fourth graders at or above 
proficient in reading went up 9 points, and the percentage stayed flat 
at 8th grade.  It's true that gaps haven't narrowed, and we should work 
all-out for that, but kids are achieving at higher levels, and that's 
important in itself.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
To: ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>; arn2-strategy 
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Sent: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 5:09 am
Subject: [arn-l] WashPost Letter on Teaching to the Test


TEACHING TO THE TEST IN MASSACHUSETTS


Washington Post Letter-to-the-Editor

February 20, 2008


E.D. Hirsch Jr. should check his facts before embracing the hype
surrounding Massachusetts' high-stakes testing scheme ["The Knowledge
Connection," op-ed, Feb. 16].


Massachusetts classrooms started teaching to the test in earnest in 
2003
when the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam began to
"count" as a graduation requirement. But state results on the National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the neutral federal
benchmark, remained essentially flat. In 2003, 38 percent of
Massachusetts eighth-graders scored "proficient," and 5 percent scored
"advanced" in reading. Four years later, the "proficient" percentage 
had
increased one point to 39 percent, but the "advanced" percentage
declined one point. The state's NAEP scores actually rose faster in the
four years before the MCAS graduation test was implemented.


In fact, Massachusetts students performed very well on the NAEP and
other measures of achievement before politicians mandated the MCAS.
Sadly, they now share with their peers around the country the negative
effects of the No Child Left Behind law, with higher urban dropout
rates, a narrowed curriculum and too much teaching to the test.
Meanwhile, gaps in achievement between the rich and poor, black 
students
and white students remain as wide as ever.


Lisa Guisbond


Policy Analyst


National Center for Fair and Open Testing


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