Re: Looking for Specific Examples of Inappropriate Use of Tests

["Deanna M. De'Liberto" <Ddeliberto@AOL.COM>]

I'm taking a very short break from an important project I am working on.  See
my comments within.

In a message dated 9/20/02 7:20:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
drdanj@EARTHLINK.NET writes:

>  ROFLMAO! :-) I guess we must have a secret relationship that I know
>  nothing about, is it one of my other personailities sneaking out late at
>  night for rendevous? Talk about a straw man, even my wife says she never
>  knows what I am going to do or say next, and that is her profession, so
>  what makes you think you are so good? Wow, Deanna, your anxieties are
>  starting to appear. (I am not being facetious, either.)

OK.....I know LOL and ROFL but what the heck is ROFLMAO!  That is a new one
for me.  Nothing you could ever write or say could ever make me
anxious....not after a man that I will not call my father threatened to kill
my mother and was arrested with two loaded hand-guns.  If you want to know
what anxiety is, try having someone point a loaded hand-gun at your
head....you'll know what anxiety is then.  Until then, you do not have a clue.

>  Okay, you want to stand on your moral high horse? Well, have you
>  reported these people? Seems that would meet your ethical standards.
>  Give me names and evidence and I will report them because my
>  professional license would require me to do that. And with the numerous
>  other psychologists I know, I have never ever once had any sort of
>  inkling that any of them or anyone in any of our circles would have ever
>  breached our legal or professional codes of ethics in any such way. I
>  guess we just travel in different sorts of circles.

You want proof that I reported these folks....umm that seems a bit unethical,
don't you think?  That is sort of like the interview I once had where the
interviewer asked me if I could handle confidential information.  I replied,
yes.  The interviewer followed up by asking....give me an example of a
situation where you had to maintain the confidentiality of confidential
information ..... and be SPECIFIC.  I responded that if I were to provide
evidence that I could maintain the confidentiality of confidential
information by giving specifics, I would be demonstrating that I could NOT be
trusted to maintain the confidentiality of confidential information.  The
interviewer informed me that I was the only candidate that had ever answered
this question correctly.

So while I have an ethical obligation to report those that use test
inappropriately, etc. I do not have any such obligation to disclose this
information to the public (although that can vary depending upon the specific
situation).  In this case, my obligation is to report it to the test
publisher and let them do their investigation.

I know psychologists that are the most ethical folks out there and are known
for their integrity.  Not all of the psychologists out there can claim that
honor.  So in what filed do you have a professional license?  Are you a
psychologist?  You may have mentioned this in one of your emails but my
memory is not recalling it right now.

>
>  Now here is a pair of interesting points:
>  1. You claim that test prep does little for scores, that prep is of low
>  validity. Well, look in the mirror: Tests have little validity for any
>  practical purposes to begin with. So, why do you hold test prep course
>  to higher standards than those for your industry? Corrolary: Let's ask
>  shops like Kaplan to respond to your accusation that they are a waste of
>  money. Then we will see you vs them and everybody pointing fingers at
>  one another.

I would just love to confront Kaplan and other test prep companies on these
issues.  You set up a date and a time and a location and let's go for it.  I
am often surprised that no one from the College Board has ever made the
arguments I have made with the evidence I have.

>  2. Whether tests or test prep has any validity is irrelevant to the
>  point that all of this is simply a great big vacuum sweeper sucking up
>  dollars that should be in education. Schools should be putting money
>  into teaching, and parents should be putting their money into supporting
>  education, not throwing down a test prep rat-hole (assuming that is
>  valid).

I have already stated my agreement that more $$$$$ needs to going to
education.  I gave details of how some districts are really hurting and I am
doing everything I can to try to turn that around.
>
>  Deanna, I never questioned your individual ethics so your stuff about
>  the Cayman accounts is irrelevant. I question your industry as a whole,
>  and I do see tens of millions of dollars going somewhere, and it is not
>  into education. I am sure some companies, within the limits that I of
>  course believe standardized testing is entirely unethical) are
>  reasonable ethical people. Not every company is Enron, but many are.

This is indeed true.

I know I need to respond in more detail to the issues raised below.  These
are similar to the 8 questions you emailed me off-list.  As I mentioned at
that time, I need to finish this project before I can get around to
responding to those.  I have not forgotten and I ask your indulgence in
granting me more time to do that (likely not before the first week of
October).

One more point....you keep referring to "your tests" as if my tests or my
company is doing wrong.  You do not know enough about our tests or D Squared
to judge us in the same way you can judge other test publishers and their
tests.  Our tests did not do any harm to you or your son or anyone you went
to school with....because D Squared was not incorporated until 1997.  You
must STOP attacking our tests until you take the time to get to know them
better.

>  You have not made a case for value added of standardized testing as it
>  is being implemented to education. You have not made a case that your
>  tests predict anything more than rcaism. You have not made a case that
>  equalizing education funding across schools is less important than
>  putting those same dollars into tests. you have not made a case for what
>  you or your industry is doing to stop fools like Gray Davis from
>  implelmenting a single graduation test. You have not made a case for how
>  your standardized tests can be standardized in an clearly discriminatory
>  world. You have not made a case for how tests are anything more than
>  institutionalized racism. you have not made a case for how your tests do
>  not harm kids like my son, or even me for that matter in my educational
>  experience. You have not made a case for how your system does anything
>  other than pound "one right way" narrow mindedness into children, and
>  crush the creativity and divergence out of them. Your tests would have
>  had me fail, would have tracked me into a deadend. I am so glad I
>  refused to buy into your system, how dare you tell me I should have? How
>  dare you tell me your system is good for my son, or any other child like
>  him.
>
>  So, tell me.
>
>  Peace
>
>  Dan
>


Deanna
===================================================
Deanna M. De'Liberto, President/Director of Assessment
D Squared Assessments, Inc.
(Specialists in Test Development/Validation and Test Administration)
9 Bedle Road, Suite 250
Hazlet, NJ 07730-1209
Phone:  (732) 888-9339
Email:    Ddeliberto@aol.com
Web:     http://www.dsquared.to

Member of the Association of Test Publishers
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