Friday, October 19, 2012

Or, Maybe We Could Just Actually Use the Writing Tests We Already Give?

Tom Kane:

When it comes to measuring teachers’ effectiveness, the state ELA assessments are less reliable and less related to other measures of practice than state math assessments (or the assessment of students’ short-answer writing responses we used to supplement the state tests). The implementation of new literacy assessments in line with the Common Core state standards may help. In the interim, schools might adapt their classroom observations and student surveys to look for evidence of student writing or add questions to the student survey asking students to describe the quality of feedback they receive on their writing.

Every time RIDE creates another high stakes evaluation based only on reading scores and not using the writing scores they already collect (that we already paid for), they're just saying "We. Don't. Care." About kids. About communities. About teachers. About data. About integrity. We are not curious about schools. We're all just cogs in this machine.

That's how we shut down and shame urban high schools that completely closed the income and racial achievement gaps vs. the state in writing, which oh, sorry! turns out to be more reliable measure of quality.

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