A Day of Intention

What is the true INTENT?  What did we really MEAN when we wrote...?

That was the crux of today's meeting with a Georgia State DOE Program Specialist, Dr. William Cranshaw.  We went through all the new Social Studies standards for the 7th grade (6th grade teachers were in a different room to learn their standards).  The best part of the information was the "Teacher Notes" section.

The Teacher Notes have been provided to assist teacher in understanding, interpreting, and generally having a clue what some of the generally stated standards mean, and what the standard-writers were thinking when they wrote them.  Further (and even more important) what the new test-writers will be using to construct our state's CRCT (Criterion Referenced Competency Test) high-stakes test -- which saw 70%-80% of our state's students fail last year.

The meeting was tedious, just as Dr. Cranshaw prepared us for.  But it was necessary.  I believe he said his staff would be delivering around 22 of these one-day sessions around the state.  Wow.  I guess I can't complain that they don't care about Social Studies and the results of the tests.

This year the test is actually a field-test of the questions to determine validity and reliability.  We'll see how that goes.  I still am very opposed to this kind of testing as a measure of student understanding, and therefore value in a educational setting.  But, I can wish all I want, this lazy, inaccurate, expensive system of assessment is a part of the game we play when we sign on to teach in the advanced age of the 21st century.  [Excuse me while I pick up the dripping sarcasm].

Still, the day was productive and beneficial.  It was worth my time.  I just hope my classroom's not a total mess when I get there tomorrow morning.

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Word Cloud of Proposed Standards

The state of Georgia had an issue with the Criterion Reference Competency Test (CRCT) in 2008. It seems either the students weren't competent, the test did not reference the standards, or the criteria was askew. The real issue, is that the state knew (so they claim) that there would be problems as far back as July 2007, but did nothing about it.

So the state "threw out" the results.

Regardless, one of my colleagues missed the last three days of school to attend a "let's get it right" session to rewrite the Social Studies Standards (again) so things are not quite so vague in the future.

She brought back a hand-written copy of the proposals from the teachers and state department honchos who were present. We looked at what was discussed, and were told the Draft would be online soon.

The draft came out a few days late, but it was there. It looks very little like the proposed changes the 12 teachers thought they would be seeing, and more like what was already there.

Regardless, the word cloud (from wordle.net) is actually practical for seeing what I am expected to focus on in class next year.

My question - as I teach my Student(s) to Describe and Explain Will a multiple choice test really be able to assess my kids' abilities to do so? Or will I have some state DOE folks come to listen as my students Describe and Explain what someone else thinks is important for a 13-year-old to know about life in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia?

Sticklers

Based on the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) results for Math and Social Studies.

Read the Article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Please read the entire article. From the article:

Cox was puzzled by the drastic drop in social studies, calling it "cause for concern." Last year, about 83 percent of the sixth-graders passed the social studies test, as did about 86 percent of the seventh-graders, according to state figures.

She wondered whether the new social studies standards were clear and
if some of the detailed test questions caught students off guard. Cox
will ask a group of teachers and curriculum specialists to determine
what may have happened.

"We have to do better with this," Cox said.

Changes could be made to the
test and to the material teachers teach, said Dana Tofig, spokesman for
the state education department.

Oops. The test was an inaccurate measurement of student competency?

The shame is that no one will take responsibility and become accountable for this. We'll say it is a starting point, and we'll learn from this "mistake" or "error." Yet who suffers for all this? The students who now have this faulty measure of their abilities on a permanent record. Testing is never the true measure of person's value, nor is it a good measure of their abilities.

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