Re: Testing Errors Prompt Calls for Oversight

[Ken <kpoppers@sbcglobal.net>]

A couple of testing years ago it took an extraordinarily long time to  
get my children's results from their STAR tests.  I called the school  
district and they told me all the reports that they were sent by the  
testing company were missing zip codes and had to be reprinted.  I  
called the CDE and was informed that this was true, I asked what the  
consequence for the company was and was informed that it was a  
subcontractor that erred and that the cost of reprinting was the only  
penalty she knew of.  I did not get my kids' scores until September,  
after the start of the next school year.

Additionally, last year a student at the school I work at, while  
taking the test, asked why the same question appeared a second time,  
in the same section of the test (7th LA).
Of course the teacher reported this and was threatened with a  
penalty, since his report would indicate that he looked at the test,  
contrary to the affidavit we are all pressured to sign.  He actually  
did not look at the test, but took the word of the student, who is a  
bright child.

Amazing how quickly the powers that be will strike out at teachers,  
but are reticent to hold corporations accountable.  The time has come  
for the worm to turn.

On Mar 18, 2006, at 5:51 PM, George Sheridan wrote:

> Today the Sacramento Bee reprinted on its front page this article,  
> which also appeared on the front page of the New York Times.
> The article reports James Popham's suggestion that testing  
> companies be required to report all errors publicly. This sounds  
> like the kind of legislative proposal that could pass in the  
> current climate.
>
> Testing Errors Prompt Calls for Oversight
> By KAREN W. ARENSON
> Published: March 18, 2006
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/18/politics/18testing.html? 
> _r=1&oref=login
>
> As the College Board races to score the final 1,600 exams from its  
> problem-ridden October SAT test, a string of recent testing errors  
> around the country has college and high school officials, testing  
> experts, students and parents asking with rising urgency, Who is  
> watching the testing industry?
>
> Spurred largely by the No Child Left Behind law, testing has  
> exploded in recent years. Educators are now trying to measure  
> factors like whether toddlers in Head Start