Re: Fwd: Article from CongressNow on NCLB - mentions FEA- see below

["Tauna Rogers" <taunar@plateautel.net>]

Please forgive me but I find Sec. Spellings response to the FEA's 
recommendations outrageous. But of course what should I have expected! See 
her press release I sent in separate post. Among other ridiculous things, 
she says,

"As we work with Congress to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, we 
must keep our eye on the ball: ensuring that all students achieve grade 
level proficiency in reading and math by 2014. Unfortunately, the report 
released today by the Forum on Educational Accountability (FEA) shifts the 
focus from results to excuses."

She continues to demand that all students must achieve grade level 
proficiency iin reading and math by 2014. Is this woman that dumb/ignorant, 
or am I the one? Am I wrong that the concept of grade level is simply an 
average and that by definition, half of all students will be below grade 
level? And given that all measurable human attributes and abilities vary 
enormously and fall along a continuum, the only possible way to reach  100% 
proficiency is to define and set proficiency so low that it would be 
meaningless.

Anyway, thanks for your tremendous efforts Monty, et al.  Being attacked by 
Spellings, Ed Trust, and Aspen is a compliment.

Tauna

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <monty@fairtest.org>
To: "arn2-strategy" <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>; "ARN-L" 
<arn-l@interversity.org>; "ARN-state" <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>; "NDSG" 
<ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 5:00 PM
Subject: [arn-l] Fwd: Article from CongressNow on NCLB - mentions FEA- see 
below



The expert panel on assessment released recommendations on ESEA/NCLB
today. We have thus far been attacked by Sec Spellings, Ed Trust,
Aspen 'Commission' - doing well. To some extent their attacks make
clear the deep disageements we have about the future of education, and
to some extent it suggests they cannot read or wilfully misrepresent.
Below is one news article already about the event.

If you want to read the exec sum or full report, go to
www.fairtest.org and click on NCLB and then alternatives; or go to
www.edaccountability.org and click on reports.

Monty

----- Forwarded message from ecr@rollcall.com -----
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:51:43 -0400
From: ecr@rollcall.com
Reply-To: ecr@rollcall.com
Subject: Article from CongressNow on NCLB - mentions FEA- see below
To: monty@fairtest.org

Monty,

This article just came out - thought you should see it- below.

eric

Lawmakers, Experts Call For New Testing Methods Under No Child Left Behind

By Stephen Langel
CongressNow Staff
Thursday, June 14, 2007 3:42 PM

Lawmakers and academics are increasingly looking to change the way the
federal government evaluates school performance under the No Child
Left Behind Act, arguing that current testing methods are too
simplistic and too sporadic to give an accurate assessment.

The Forum on Educational Accountability today issued a report,
"Assessment and Accountability for Improving Schools and Learning,?
that recommends testing that is more frequent and classroom-based, as
opposed to the annual standardized test used under NCLB.

A yearly test, the group said, does not give the most up-to-date
assessment of performance, and the standard multiple-choice approach
does not provide a realistic view of what students have learned.
Instead, teachers should be allowed to evaluate students, classroom
performance, the panel said.

The "testing mentality sacrifices learning,? in that it leads
educators to teach to a test rather than using a broader curriculum,
said Pat Roschewski, one of the study,s authors, during a briefing
today. These "one-size-fits-all? tests also shortchange special-needs
students, including those who are developmentally challenged or not
native speakers of English, said Alba Ortiz, another of the study,s
authors.

The group is hoping to use the report to modify NCLB as it moves
toward reauthorization. Reauthorization will provide a vehicle to
"rectify flaws in the system,? Ortiz added.

NCLB, which sets federal performance standards for schools, is due to
expire at the end of the year. Lawmakers are concerned that NCLB will
fail to meet its goal of having all children reading at their grade
level by 2014.

To achieve such changes, the panel is lobbying lawmakers in the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the House
Education and Labor Committee to include their recommendations in
reauthorization. "I,m sensing an interest? in these changes,
Roschewski said.

The group has sent the report to various lawmakers in both committees,
Monty Neill, director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing,
told CongressNow. Lawmakers are "clearly interested? in changing the
law, with several members poised to introduce legislation that would
establish new performance standards for state and local governments
under NCLB. Neill declined to elaborate on who was offering these bills.

Initially, the group,s proposal has the support of lawmakers such as
Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.), a former college provost and a member of the
Education and Labor Committee. A one-time written test is too
"limiting? and provides too much of an incentive for teachers to teach
to the test, Bishop said. Such an approach is inhibiting teachers from
doing their jobs, he added.

A variety of groups are calling for new performance standards, Rep.
George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the Education and Labor
committee, told CongressNow. But he has not decided what steps the
committee will take, Miller added.

Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas), chairman of the Education and Labor
subcommittee on higher education, lifelong learning and
competitiveness, pledged during the briefing to circulate the report
to his colleagues. The chairman also promised more money for NCLB.

While previous Congresses had underfunded the program, he said,
"there,s a new sheriff in town? now that Democrats are in the
majority, he said.
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Eric Richardson
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410-533-2078-cell
202-824-0475-fax
202-824-6800-front desk
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____________________________________________________________________________

The Votes Are In: In the recently released 2006-2007 E&M Opinion Leader
Survey, Congressional opinion leaders voted Roll Call No. 1 in total and
regular readership, as well as the most current and enjoyable publication.

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