Re: Justification for the SAT

["Dr. William C. Cala, Ed.D." <wcala@SERVTECH.COM>]

If you read A Fine Young Man, by Michael Gurian, Real Boys and his newest
Real Boys Voices by William Pollack, Raising Cain by Dan Kinlon you may
discover the real reasons why boys are so desperately in the tank.  You may
also wish to read Stealing Innocence, Corporate Culture's War on Children by
Henry Giroux.

I do know the role that standardized tests play in the harm to boys.  I work
with them daily.  And, I  work most often with the boys who have 'crashed'.
Your conclusions are flat-out wrong.  Furthermore, your use of the term
"perfect" in reference to teacher evaluations is your invention.  Nothing is
"perfect" and no one claims that ANY measurement is perfect.  Some are
better than others.  As I stated in my last post, college admission's
counselors will take teacher evaluations, hands-down.

Keep on justifying the SAT you'll make the media's ranking business really
happy.  Keep on justifying a test that has a mere 16% predictability.

bc
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen McGinnis" <Nanodev@AOL.COM>
To: <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2001 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: Justification for the SAT


> The fundamental problem is the inherent bias in the assessment reform
> community.  There is an unquestioned belief that somehow teachers assign
> grades in a perfect manner that never contains bias.  The fact that there
are
> multiple assessments by many individuals is irrelevant.  Since the
teaching
> corps is very homogeneous and grades are based on almost identical
subjective
> factors (homework, neatness, behavior,etc.) the inclusion of multiple
> evaluations does not improve accuracy.  This argument is in fact identical
to
> saying that if we gave the SAT and the ACT to every student, every month,
it
> would somehow become an accurate assessment.
>
> I find it interesting that the PSAT was mentioned.  There has been a
> substantial effort led by FairTest to eliminate apparent bias in this
> objective test.  (This was of course done by adding a subjective
component.)
> However, most scholarships and financial aid are awarded based on teacher
> assigned grades. This bias has never been challenged.
>
> The latest Department of Education data shows that the college attendance
> gender gap is 56%-44% and widening.   As a result, it is particularly
> appropriate to begin to examine the gender diversity of the student body
(as
> many institutions are currently doing) and to examine the use of biased
> assessments in the admission process.  (In fact there have been several
> reports of institutions adding to male applicants GPA and/or subtracting
from
> female students GPA to counter the effects of grade bias.)  However, the
> optimum solution would be to address the gender bias inherent in the
grading
> process.
>
> Of course such an analysis will not happen.  The belief in the absolute
> accuracy of classroom grades reminds me of something from another era.
Are
> we back to the dogma that the earth is flat?  There seems to be an equal
> amount of quantitative evidence to support both theories.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Steve McGinnis
>
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