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Re: Key NCLB Initiative Under Federal Investigation
....and you are right that we should use their whole, non- Reading First, teacher designed local assessments as a model....lets hope the changes in NCLB will encourage this.
Rog
Rog ( Horace ) Lucido, Physics Instructor, Ret.
Program Evaluator
Adjunct Faculty, Fresno Pacific University
Educational Consultant
Educators and Parents Against Testing Abuse ( EPATA )
Assessment Reform Network Central Valley Coordinator
Phone: 559-277-1312
Cell: 559-355-4215
email: lucid4@cvip.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>
Date: Saturday, April 21, 2007 2:16 pm
Subject: Re: [ca-resisters] Key NCLB Initiative Under Federal Investigation
To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> Oh, you may be right. I was thinking of their whole evaluation
> system,
> not just RF. Of course RF uses Dibels, thats what all the fuss is
> about! Thanks!
> Susan
>
> On Saturday, April 21, 2007, at 01:34 PM, Horace B Lucido wrote:
>
> > Nebraska uses DIBELS for k-2 and Gates MacGinitie comprehension
> for
> > 3rd grade.
> > From Nebraska's Dept. of Ed. web site on Reading First assessment:
> > http://www.nde.state.ne.us/ReadingFirst/
> > Nebraska%20RF%20Ex%20Eval%20Report%20Year%202.pdf
> > Student Achievement
> > Grade-level achievement was determined using a different outcome
>
> > measure at the spring
> > assessment in each grade to match grade-level expectations.
> > In Kindergarten, we used the DIBELS Phoneme Segmentation Fluency.
> > In First Grade, we used the DIBELS Non Word Fluency.
> > In Second Grade, we use the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency.
> > In Third Grade, we used the Gates MacGinitie comprehension results.
> > For simplicity of presentation, only these scores will be
> presented in
> > the section.
> >
> >
> > Rog ( Horace ) Lucido, Physics Instructor, Ret.
> > Program Evaluator
> > Adjunct Faculty, Fresno Pacific University
> > Educational Consultant
> > Educators and Parents Against Testing Abuse ( EPATA )
> > Assessment Reform Network Central Valley Coordinator
> > Phone: 559-277-1312
> > Cell: 559-355-4215
> > email: lucid4@cvip.net
> >
> >
> > Rog ( Horace ) Lucido, Physics Instructor, Ret.
> > Program Evaluator
> > Adjunct Faculty, Fresno Pacific University
> > Educational Consultant
> > Educators and Parents Against Testing Abuse ( EPATA )
> > Assessment Reform Network Central Valley Coordinator
> > Phone: 559-277-1312
> > Cell: 559-355-4215
> > email: lucid4@cvip.net
> >
> >
> > Rog ( Horace ) Lucido, Physics Instructor, Ret.
> > Program Evaluator
> > Adjunct Faculty, Fresno Pacific University
> > Educational Consultant
> > Educators and Parents Against Testing Abuse ( EPATA )
> > Assessment Reform Network Central Valley Coordinator
> > Phone: 559-277-1312
> > Cell: 559-355-4215
> > email: lucid4@cvip.net
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>
> > Date: Saturday, April 21, 2007 12:57 pm
> > Subject: Re: [ca-resisters] Key NCLB Initiative Under Federal
> > Investigation
> > To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> >
> >> Nebraska does, and is a model for the rest of us.
> >> Susan
> >>
> >> On Saturday, April 21, 2007, at 09:31 AM, Horace B Lucido wrote:
> >>
> >>> Improved test scores could just mean better test prep, not
> >> genuine
> >>> comprehension. A one-time test on reading is not a valid
> >> measure of
> >>> comprehension. Each state uses a different assessment ( although
> >> some
> >>> may use the same-DIBELS? now under investigation ) and therefore
> >> a
> >>> different definition of what it means to read with
> >> comprehension. An
> >>> improvement in one dimension of comprehension scores on one
> >> state's
> >>> assessment, may correspond to a reduction in scores in another.
> >>> Even in this flawed assessment processes one cannont even utter
> >> the
> >>> word 'scientific' as there is no standardization in which to
> >> assume
> >>> that increases in percent proficient using one assessment can be
> >>> mathematically combined and/or contrasted to another. No states,
> >> to my
> >>> knowledge, use multiple measures either.
> >>> Rog
> >>>
> >>> Rog ( Horace ) Lucido, Physics Instructor, Ret.
> >>> Program Evaluator
> >>> Adjunct Faculty, Fresno Pacific University
> >>> Educational Consultant
> >>> Educators and Parents Against Testing Abuse ( EPATA )
> >>> Assessment Reform Network Central Valley Coordinator
> >>> Phone: 559-277-1312
> >>> Cell: 559-355-4215
> >>> email: lucid4@cvip.net
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>> From: Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>
> >>> Date: Saturday, April 21, 2007 6:58 am
> >>> Subject: [ca-resisters] Key NCLB Initiative Under Federal
> >> Investigation> To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
> >>>
> >>>> First Krashen, then the Washington Post... The good news: the
> >>>> reading nazis are being exposed for their corruption. The bad
> >>>> news:
> >>>> Miller and Kennedy still buy the official propaganda that
> kill and
> >>>> drill teaching "works"
> >>>>
> >>>> Sent to the Washington Post, April 21
> >>>>
> >>>> According to The Post ("Reading first paying off,
> >>>> Education Dept. Says," April 19), the US Department of
> >>>> Education reported that the percentage of third
> >>>> graders meeting or exceeding the proficient level on
> >>>> tests of reading comprehension increased by 12%
> >>>> between 2004 and 2006, which they regard as strong
> >>>> support for the effectiveness of Reading First.
> >>>>
> >>>> I have examined this data (available on the Department
> >>>> of Education website). For the 30 states with test
> >>>> scores available, I found an average increase of 6.7%
> >>>> in the percentage of third graders scoring at the
> >>>> proficient level or higher between 2004 and 2006. This
> >>>> is considerably less than the figure reported by the
> >>>> Department of Education.
> >>>>
> >>>> Eight states had impressive gains, ranging from 10% to
> >>>> 26%, but these states combined contained only about
> >>>> 10% of the total number of students in Reading First.
> >>>> For other 22 states, the average increase between 2004
> >>>> and 2006 was only 3%.
> >>>>
> >>>> In other words, only a small percentage of children
> >>>> appear to have profited from Reading First. For states
> >>>> that include 90% of those in Reading First, gains were
> >>>> minimal.
> >>>>
> >>>> Children in Reading First get 100 extra minutes of
> >>>> reading instruction per week, and Reading First
> >>>> teachers get significantly more professional
> >>>> development. The Department of Education's own data
> >>>> shows that Reading First, for the vast majority of
> >>>> children, is not very efficient.
> >>>>
> >>>> Stephen Krashen
> >>>>
> >>>>> KEY INITIATIVE OF "NO CHILD" UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION
> >>>>> Washington Post -- April 21, 2007
> >>>>> by Amit R. Paley
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion
> >>>> reading
> >>>>> initiative at the center of President Bush's No Child Left
> Behind>>>>> law, another blow to a program besieged by allegations of
> >>>> financial
> >>>>> conflicts of interest and cronyism, people familiar with the
> >>>> matter
> >>>>> said yesterday.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The disclosure came as a congressional hearing revealed how
> >>>> people
> >>>>> implementing the $1 billion-a-year Reading First program
> made at
> >>>>> least $1 million off textbooks and tests toward which the
> federal>>>>> government steered states.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "That sounds like a criminal enterprise to me," said Rep. George
> >>>>> Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House education committee,
> >>>> which
> >>>>> held a five-hour investigative hearing. "You don't get to
> >>>> override
> >>>>> the law," he angrily told a panel of Reading First officials.
> >>>> "But
> >>>>> the fact of the matter is that you did."
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The Education Department's inspector general, John P. Higgins,
> >>>> Jr.,
> >>>>> said he has made several referrals to the Justice Department
> >>>> about
> >>>>> the five-year-old program, which provides grants to improve
> >>>> reading
> >>>>> for children in kindergarten through third grade.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Higgins declined to offer more specifics, but Christopher J.
> >>>>> Doherty, former director of Reading First, said in an interview
> >>>> that
> >>>>> he was questioned by Justice officials in November. The civil
> >>>>> division of the U.S. attorney's office for the District, which
> >>>> can
> >>>>> bring criminal charges, is reviewing the matter.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Doherty, one of the two Education Department employees who
> >>>> oversaw
> >>>>> the initiative, acknowledged yesterday that his wife had worked
> >>>> for
> >>>>> a decade as a paid consultant for a reading program, Direct
> >>>>> Instruction, that investigators said he improperly tried to
> force>>>>> schools to use. He repeatedly failed to disclose the
> conflict on
> >>>>> financial disclosure forms.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "I'm very proud of this program and my role in this program,"
> >>>>> Doherty said in the interview. "I think it's been
> implemented in
> >>>>> accordance with the law."
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The management of Reading First has come under attacks from
> >>>> members
> >>>>> of both parties. Federal investigators say program officials
> >>>>> improperly forced states to use certain tests and textbooks
> >>>> created
> >>>>> by those officials.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> One official, Roland H. Good III, said his company made $1.3
> >>>> million
> >>>>> off a reading test, known as DIBELS, that was endorsed by a
> >>>> Reading
> >>>>> First evaluation panel he sat on. Good, who owns half the
> >>>> company,
> >>>>> Dynamic Measurement Group, told the committee that he donated
> >>>>> royalties from the product to the University of Oregon,
> where he
> >>>> is
> >>>>> an associate professor.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Two former University of Oregon researchers on the panel, Edward
> >>>> J.
> >>>>> Kame'enui and Deborah C. Simmons, said they received about
> >>>> $150,000
> >>>>> in royalties last year for a program that is now packaged with
> >>>>> DIBELS. They testified that they received smaller royalties in
> >>>>> previous years for the program, Scott Foresman Early Reading
> >>>>> Intervention, and did not know it was being sold with DIBELS.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Members of the panel said they recused themselves from
> voting on
> >>>>> their own products but did assess their competitors. Of 24 tests
> >>>>> approved by the committee, seven were tied to members of the
> >> panel.>>>
> >>>>> "I regret the perception of conflicts of interest," said
> >>>> Kame'enui,
> >>>>> former chairman of the committee, who now works at the
> department>>>> as
> >>>>> commissioner of the National Center for Special Education
> >>>> Research.
> >>>>> "But there was no real conflict of interest being engaged in."
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The intricate financial connections between Reading First
> >>>> products
> >>>>> and program officials extend beyond issues the committee
> explored>>>> yesterday.>
> >>>>> Another researcher, Sharon Vaughn, worked with Kame'enui,
> Simmons>>>>> and Good to design Voyager Universal Literacy, a
> program that
> >>>>> Reading First officials urged states to use. Vaughn was director
> >>>> of
> >>>>> a center at the University of Texas that was hired to provide
> >>>> states
> >>>>> advice on selecting Reading First tests and books.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The publisher of that product, Voyager Expanded Learning, was
> >>>>> founded and run by Randy Best, a major Bush campaign
> contributor,>>>>> who sold the company in 2005 for more than $350
> million. Now Best
> >>>>> runs Higher Ed Holdings, a company that develops colleges of
> >>>>> education, where former education secretary Roderick R.
> Paige is
> >>>> a
> >>>>> senior adviser and G. Reid Lyon, Bush's former reading adviser,
> >>>> is
> >>>>> an executive vice president.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "I'm very disappointed and saddened by the information that was
> >>>>> provided at the hearing today," said Lyon, who had been a strong
> >>>>> defender of Reading First, which he said had nothing to do with
> >>>> his
> >>>>> new job. "The issues appear much more serious than I had
> been led
> >>>> to
> >>>>> understand."
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Despite the controversy surrounding Reading First's management,
> >>>> the
> >>>>> percentage of students in the program who are proficient on
> >>>> fluency
> >>>>> tests has risen about 15 percent, Education Department officials
> >>>>> said. School districts across the country praise the program.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Members of both parties continue to support the goals of Reading
> >>>>> First even as they attack its management. Miller and Senate
> >>>>> education committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) joined
> >>>>> Republicans yesterday in pledging to tighten restrictions on
> >>>>> conflicts of interest in No Child Left Behind.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who declined to comment
> >>>>> yesterday, has said management problems with Reading First
> >>>> "reflect
> >>>>> individual mistakes." But Doherty said nearly every aspect
> of the
> >>>>> program was carefully monitored by the department and the White
> >>>>> House, where Spelling was Bush's top education adviser.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "This program was always firmly under the watch and control of
> >>>> the
> >>>>> highest levels of the government," Doherty said.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>
> >
>