Re: more on "opportunity to learn"

[William Cala <Wcala@SERVTECH.COM>]

Judi,

Technically you are correct.  Regents exams are in high school.  The whole
testing program by board of Regents, however is 4 through 12.

Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Judi Hirsch" <judih@OUSD.K12.CA.US>
To: <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2001 9:46 PM
Subject: Re: more on "opportunity to learn"


> I thought the Regents Exams were given at the end of senior high classes,
> not in 8th grade. have things changed?
> Judi
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dr. William C. Cala, Ed.D. <wcala@SERVTECH.COM>
> To: <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2001 6:08 PM
> Subject: Re: more on "opportunity to learn"
>
>
> > So in the final analysis, what do you think is happening in New York
State
> > (the target of  Natriello's work) five years later?  This past June the
> > "new" Regents exams' scoring was scaled so that someone breathing could
> pass
> > (needed 33 questions answered correctly out of 85 on Biology for
example.)
> > 4th and 8th grade results to be released soon (after press embargo).
They
> > are the subject of a critical essay by yours truly.  They are equally
> > absurd.
> >
> > BC
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Peter Farruggio" <pfarr@UCLINK4.BERKELEY.EDU>
> > To: <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
> > Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2001 5:55 PM
> > Subject: more on "opportunity to learn"
> >
> >
> > > In cleaning out my files, I just came across a policy statement
article
> in
> > > the Nov 1996 Educational Researcher, published by AERA.  It's written
by
> > > Gary Natriello, an educational sociologist at Teachers College.
Can';t
> > > find a full text version at the AERA website (aera.net), so here's my
> > typed
> > > version of the opening paragraph (below).  After that there's a press
> > > statement found at the TC website, cerca 1999.
> > >
> > > And I also include an abstract from a study published in 1999 that
> showed
> > a
> > > strong association between US test scores in Math and social class
> > > indicators.  It looks like that article is not available at the AERA
> site
> > > either.
> > >
> > > I put all this out because I feel very strongly that we anti-high
> > > stakes/anti-standardistas activists need to double and triple our
> efforts
> > > to educate the American public about the persistent and growing savage
> > > inequalities that are harming our inner-city kids.  Speaking truth to
> > > power, as the courageous Quakers say.  And this is the bigger truth
that
> > > gets lost in some babbling debates about tests, standards,  etc  This
is
> > > nothing new to those of us who are inside these underfunded schools
> every
> > > day; but we must organize to speak out louder.
> > >
> > > Pete Farruggio
> > >
> > >
> >
>
****************************************************************************
> >
>
****************************************************************************
> > *************
> > >  From Gary Natriello's 1996 statement:
> > >
> > >         "The policy statement that resulted from the National
Education
> > Summit
> > > (1996) discusses two major areas in which the participants agreed: the
> > need
> > > for higher standards and the potential contribution of technology to
> > > realizing those standards.  The Summit and its recommendations divert
> our
> > > attention from many pressing problems in US schools; in particular, I
> will
> > > argue here that greater attention should be devoted to corporate and
> > > governmental responsibility for the conditions under which students
> attend
> > > schools, particularly the physical conditions of schools."
> > >
> > >
> >
>
****************************************************************************
> >
>
****************************************************************************
> > ***************
> > >
> > > TC Forum: Professor Natriello Says Cost to Meet New State Standards
> > >                                  Could Reach $3.5 Billion
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  In the wake of new graduation
standards
> > > imposed by New York State, a report
> > >                                  by the Community Service Society, a
> > > nonprofit group dedicated to fighting
> > >                                  poverty, predicted dire consequences,
> > > especially for inner-city and rural
> > >                                  schools starved for funds.
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  The report maintains that many
schools
> > are
> > > setting up children for failure
> > >                                  because the schools are not prepared
to
> > > meet the goals.
> > >                                  In his remarks to an audience of 50
New
> > > York City metropolitan school
> > >                                  superintendents who attended the TC
> > Forum,
> > > an education-policy seminar,
> > >                                  Gary Natriello, Professor of
Sociology
> > and
> > > Education, the author of the report,
> > >                                  spoke about "Estimating the Resources
> > > Necessary to Meet the New
> > >                                  Standards."
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  The TC Forum is offered twice a
> semester
> > > by Thomas Sobol, the Christian A.
> > >                                  Johnson Professor of Outstanding
> Practice
> > > and the Director of TC's annual
> > >                                  Superintendents Work Conference.
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  According to Natriello, the
> implications
> > > for the revised Regents Examination
> > >                                  Program are "quite substantial." Many
> > > schools offer few courses, Natriello
> > >                                  says, for the existing Regents
> > > Examinations and "these will need to engage in
> > >                                  very significant curriculum and staff
> > > training efforts." He adds, "even schools
> > >                                  that offer Regents level courses
> > currently
> > > will confront the serious challenge of
> > >                                  preparing all students for the new
> > Regents
> > > standards."
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  Natriello says there are several
> > positions
> > > being staked out in estimating what it
> > >                                  will cost to implement the new
> standards.
> > > There is the position that "you can
> > >                                  have it all for less." That is, he
> says,
> > > "some say you can get dramatically
> > >                                  better outcomes with fewer resources.
> You
> > > can do it through means like
> > >                                  greater choice, charters, and
vouchers,
> > > anything that tilts at the current
> > >                                  system, which we assume to be
> > inefficient."
> > >                                  Natriello disagrees. To get better
> > > outcomes, he says, "is going to cost the
> > >                                  public a lot." He said he was one of
> > those
> > > "wild-eyed educators" who
> > >                                  conservatively estimates the initial
> > costs
> > > for implementing the new standards
> > >                                  at $3.5 billion, which he computes at
> > > $5,678.10 per student.
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  Calling his estimates "modest,"
> Natriello
> > > adds, that it "doesn't begin take into
> > >                                  account a whole variety of other
> > > expenditures needed, but rather only to get
> > >                                  the schools positioned to have a shot
> at
> > > approaching the standards."
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  He breaks the costs down into
> categories:
> > > staff development and new staff;
> > >                                  materials; facilities; and special
> needs.
> > > The largest single cost category is
> > >                                  facilities, which he estimates at
$1.45
> > > billion or $3,375 per student. One
> > >                                  English department chair captured the
> > > dilemma facing a number of schools.
> > >                                  He said, "Our building is an old
> > building.
> > > We are looking for space, because
> > >                                  every time we set up a computer room,
> we
> > > give up a classroom. And we really
> > >                                  don't have anymore classrooms to give
> > up."
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  In interviews with principals and
> > > department heads from 18 statewide high
> > >                                  schools, Natriello found many
> struggling
> > > just to keep up with current
> > >                                  requirements. In discussing the issue
> of
> > > staff development as a cost category,
> > >                                  one principal told Natriello, "We
need
> > > tons of staff development. The staff will
> > >                                  need some tools, some will need
> training
> > > in methodology for kids who haven't
> > >                                  been taking Regents classes." The
cost
> of
> > > staff development and recruiting
> > >                                  teachers in disciplines as varied as
> > > science, mathematics, and foreign
> > >                                  languages is estimated at $508 per
> > > student--Material costs, resources
> > >                                  (curriculum, computers, science
> > > laboratories, etc.) to address the new learning
> > >                                  goals were estimated at $850 per
> student.
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  When estimating the cost to meet the
> > > special learning needs of students, all
> > >                                  of whom must now reach the new
diploma
> > > standards, Natriello set the cost at
> > >                                  $1,045.10 per student. A mathematics
> > > department chair told Natriello that, "I
> > >                                  have a hard core of 30 kids who will
> have
> > > trouble passing, and I'm not talking
> > >                                  about the special education students.
> > > These are students who are having
> > >                                  problems passing Math I . . ."
> > >
> > >
> > >                                  Natriello, after reviewing the
numbers,
> > > candidly remarked, "I don't think there is
> > >                                  a clear sense what the new standards
> > > involve. I don't think that people have
> > >                                  thought seriously about what has to
be
> in
> > > place to achieve the goals they have
> > >                                  articulated and certainly no one has
> > > thought hard about what it might cost."
> > >
> >
>
****************************************************************************
> >
>
****************************************************************************
> > *************************
> > >
> > >                                         Poor School Funding, Child
> > Poverty,
> > >                                            and Mathematics Achievement
> > >
> > >                                             Kevin J. Payne & Bruce J.
> > Biddle
> > >                                                University of Missouri,
> > Columbia
> > >
> > >                              This article concerns the effects of poor
> > > school funding and child poverty on
> > >                              mathematics achievement in American
> schools.
> > A
> > > good deal of research and
> > >                              a lot of confusion have surrounded these
> > > topics. We begin by first reviewing
> > >                              these traditions of effort. Next, we
> present
> > > information about a new study of
> > >                              these effects, including the rationale
for
> > our
> > > research, our methods, and our
> > >                              findings. We close by discussing the
> > > implications of our results.
> > >
> > >                              Journal Citation:
> > >                              Educational Researcher, v28 n6 p4-13
> Aug-Sept
> > 1999
> > >
> >
>
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