Fwd: [arn2-strategy] Idaho eliminates grade 9 test

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: monty@fairtest.org
> Date: Thu Dec 13, 2007  12:55:14 PM US/Pacific
> To: arn2-strategy <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>, ARN-L 
> <arn-l@interversity.org>, ARN-state <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>, NDSG 
> <ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [arn2-strategy] Idaho eliminates grade 9 test
> Reply-To: arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com
>
> Note that the board of ed, busy with things like making tests higher
> stakes than the feds require, failed to notice that testing in grade 9
> was a 'cost option.' But let's make the 10th graders pass the reading
> test or they won't get a diploma. Idaho earlier dropped grade 2
> testing (which it should never have implemented in the first place).
> Administrators are happy because they recognise students are
> overtested. Monty
>
>
> Posted on Ed Week site:
>
> Idaho Eliminates More Student Achievement Tests
> By The Associated Press
>
>
> Boise, Idaho
> Ninth graders will no longer take the Idaho Standard Achievement Tests
> because the state Board of Education can't cover the costs, the board
> announced Tuesday.
>
> High school students must pass the 10th-grade version of the test
> before they may graduate, and the standardized tests are used to
> determine if schools are succeeding under the federal No Child Left
> Behind Act. But state board members said the ninth-grade version had
> to be axed because with a price tag of about $1.1 million, it was too
> expensive and the board had to balance its budget.
>
> The decision is the latest in a series of testing cutbacks enacted
> since the board entered a contract with Data Recognition Corp., a
> Minnesota-based testing service, several months ago.
>
> At first the state board didn't realize that the new contract made
> testing for second- and ninth-graders "cost options," state Board of
> Education spokesman Mark Browning said. In other words, that testing
> wasn't included in the price of the regular contract, but could be
> added for an extra fee.
>
> When the error was realized, the board changed its procedures so that
> instead of just being reviewed by one staffer, new contracts will be
> examined by at least three people, Browning said.
>
> Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter also stepped in, ordering board members to
> clean up finances and make operations more accountable, and telling
> board members to terminate the voluntary testing portion of the
> contract with Data Recognition.
>
> The board initially responded by eliminating one of three annual
> rounds of ISAT testing for third- through ninth-graders at public
> schools for at least three years, and by ending all second-grade ISAT
> testing.
>
> Board members hoped that those cuts — expected to save about $2.4
> million — would be enough to balance the budget, Browning said. But
> three months later the board was still in the red and so Tuesday the
> ninth-grade testing was eliminated. However, because Data Recognition
> has already started work on revamping the ninth-grade test, that move
> will save more than $826,000 in projected costs this year, Browning
> said, instead of the entire $1.1 million.
>
> "It's disappointing," Browning said. "That ninth-grade year is very
> important. The message to parents is to pay very close attention to
> the ongoing grades in any particular class. Don't wait for that poor
> ISAT score to come home before doing something, because it won't now."
>
> Some school administrators are pleased about the change, however.
>
> "Kids are tested so much in junior high, and this gives them a
> respite, a stay of execution, for the ninth grade," said Curt-Randall
> Bayer, principal of Bonners Ferry High School. "In the fall, you were
> testing freshmen who weren't even acclimated to the high school
> schedule yet."
>
> The ISAT is still being given twice yearly to students in third
> through eighth grades and to 10th graders — the grades targeted for
> testing under the No Child Left Behind Act. High school juniors and
> seniors who don't pass the 10th grade exams can retake the test as
> needed.
>
> Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
> may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
>     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arn2-strategy/
>
> <*> Your email settings:
>     Individual Email | Traditional
>
> <*> To change settings online go to:
>     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arn2-strategy/join
>     (Yahoo! ID required)
>
> <*> To change settings via email:
>     mailto:arn2-strategy-digest@yahoogroups.com
>     mailto:arn2-strategy-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
>
> <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>     arn2-strategy-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
>     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll
http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F
Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!