Testing madness

[Diane Aoki <dkeikoa@hawaii.rr.com>]

Just wanted to update the list on current testing madness in my state.
Harcourt was the testing company who had the contract for several years for
our state tests by which AYP is determined. There were so many errors and
problems that they were fired. Lo and behold, we are now required to do
quarterly assessments which give info to our superintendant as to how well
we are addressing the benchmarks expected per quarter. Guess who the
publisher is - Harcourt. I was told that reform providers such as ours,
which is America's Choice, were allowed to choose the quarterly assessments
for the schools they have contracts for. Also, spoke to a SPED teacher who
had just come from a SPED training on alternative assessments, and Harcourt
is also the company who got the contract for that. And they have not made
their tests any better. The 4th grade constructed response question was
absurdly difficult. Though there was a semblance to a benchmark, if you
stretch it to fit, the problems were no where near what a 4th grader should
be expected to know in first quarter. Not only that, the answer key, I
believe, was in error. Do you agree? This was presented in chart form:
Boxes (b)/ magazines (n)
1   - 60
2   - 120
3   - 180

Question 1: Write a rule for how many magazines fit into a box.
They have as their answer 60n.

Isn't it 60b? 

The worst thing about this is the time stolen from the students to do these
ridiculous tests. Do you think I should write a letter to the editor about
these absurd things happening to us, that we are forced to subject our
students to?  What do you think my next step should be in revealing or
protesting these travesties?

Thank you, Diane