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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup September 27, 2015:
PSSA Scores Tank; Researchers from the
National Center for Educational Statistics rank PA students as among the best
in the nation.
This is a limited weekend edition of the
PA Ed Policy Roundup, focused primarily on standardized testing issues…
Ironically, while the state
implements a new test which scores over 70 percent of its eighth graders at
either basic or below basic in math and 40 percent of its fourth graders in
basic or below basic in reading, researchers from the National Center for
Educational Statistics rank Pennsylvania students as among the best in the
nation. Pennsylvania’s students’ performance on the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading and math rate them among the top in the
country.
According to the (2013) National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only three states have statistically
significant higher fourth-grade reading scores than Pennsylvania and only two
states have statistically significant higher eighth-grade reading scores than
PA; only seven states have statistically significant higher fourth-grade math
scores than PA, and only five states have statistically significant higher
eighth-grade math scores than PA.
The researchers also
performed a study that statistically linked state performance on the NAEP
eighth-grade mathematics and science tests with international performance on
the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) eighth-grade
mathematics and science tests.
— Science: Pennsylvania’s
NAEP performance would rank it below only six education systems (Singapore,
Chinese Taipei, Korea, Japan, Finland, Alberta-Canada), comparable to four, and
above 37.
— Math: Pennsylvania ranked
below only six education systems (Korea, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong,
Japan, and Russia), comparable to Quebec, and above 40.
“You look at how our Chester
County students compare in Pennsylvania to those in the rest of the nation and
by all objective measures, our students are outperforming their peers
nationally and internationally,” said Dr. Joseph O’Brien, executive director,
Chester County Intermediate Unit. “We need to keep our perspective when looking
at these latest results. They are but one measure of our students’ ability and
of the quality education students receive in public schools in Chester County
and throughout the Commonwealth.”
PSSA scores expected to
take heavy hit
DOWNINGTOWN >> Chester County superintendents and
their counterparts across the commonwealth are warning parents that their children’s
state assessment scores, known as the PSSAs, may drop when they receive their
student’s official scores this September. Preliminary results of test scores
released by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to school districts
indicate that scores statewide have plummeted. According to the Department of
Education, this is a result of the first-time administration of a Pennsylvania
State System of Assessment (PSSA) aligned to the Pennsylvania (PA) Core
Standards, which were adopted in 2013.
The new test prompted the Pennsylvania Department of
Education to obtain a one-year waiver from the U.S. Department of Education in
using the 2015 PSSA scores to calculate School Performance Profiles (SPP) for
schools with students in grades 3-8. The SPP is used to provide the community
with an overall rating of their public schools performance as well as used in
the teacher effectiveness ratings in public school teachers’ evaluations. As a
result, most public and charter elementary and middle schools will not recieve
an SPP score this year. High schools will still receive an SPP score as high
school students take the Keystone Exams and not the PSSAs.
The Nation's Report
Card State
Snapshot Report for Pennsylvania
2013 4th Grade Reading
US Department of Education
National Center
The Nation's Report
Card State
Snapshot Report for Pennsylvania
2013 8th Grade Reading
US Department of Education
National Center
The Nation's Report
Card State
Snapshot Report for Pennsylvania
2013 4th Grade Mathematics
US Department of Education
National Center
The Nation's Report
Card State
Snapshot Report for Pennsylvania
2013 8th Grade Mathematics
US Department of Education
National Center
StudentsFirstPA: Here's an
argument for why teacher evaluations are a good idea: Ashley DeMauro
PennLive Op-Ed By Ashley DeMauro on September 25,
2015 at 10:00 AM, updated September 25, 2015 at 10:06 AM
Ashley DeMauro is the State Director of
StudentsFirst in Pennsylvania, a nonprofit advocacy group.
When I saw Lloyd E. Sheaffer's
Aug. 27 PennLive column about Pennsylvania's teacher evaluation system,
I was glad to see this important initiative being discussed.
After all, we know
that teachers are the most important in-school factor affecting student
achievement. Unfortunately, I disagreed
with much of what Sheaffer had to say about the state's Educator Effectiveness
System. Contrary to what he believes, it
plays an important role in policies that can elevate the teaching profession in
Pennsylvania . In his column, Sheaffer voices a preference
for an evaluation system that uses classroom observation to gauge how well
teachers are impacting their students. I
agree that this in-person assessment is a very valuable tool, and as he notes
in his column, it's the one factor that makes up the largest portion of the new
system. It is important to note, however,
that using one type of evaluation only tells one part of a story with many
chapters. While the old system was
100 percent based on observation, the new system bases 50 percent on
observation by school leaders.
How is this fair? Art teacher is evaluated by
students’ math standardized test scores
Among the most
absurd hallmarks of the high-stakes standardized testing era are teacher
evaluation systems that assess teachers on the test scores of students they
don’t have and/or subjects they don’t teach. Why has this practice has been
going on for years? High-stakes standardized tests are only given in math and
English language arts. So complicated — and invalid — mathematical
formulas are concocted to figure out how teachers who don’t teach math and
English can be judged by those test scores anyway. ( In fact, for a few years
in Washington D.C. New York City teacher relates his experience
of being evaluated by the scores of students he doesn’t have. Jake Jacobs is in
his eighth year as an art teacher, currently in a high-needs public school in New York City .
"Teachers won an end to
the use of student standardized test scores to evaluate them — and now,
teachers will be included in decisions on the amount of standardized testing
for students. This evaluation practice has been slammed by assessment experts
as invalid and unreliable, and has led to the narrowing of curriculum, with emphasis
on the two subjects for which there are standardized tests, math and English
Language arts."
The surprising things Seattle teachers won for
students by striking
Seattle
teachers went on strike for a week this month with a list of goals for a new
contract. By the time the strike officially ended this week, teachers had won
some of the usual stuff of contract negotiations — for example, the first
cost-of-living raises in six years — but also less standard objectives. For one thing, teachers demanded, and won,
guaranteed daily recess for all elementary school students — 30 minutes each
day. In an era when recess for many students has become limited or non-existent
despite the known benefits of physical activity, this is a big deal, and
something parents had sought.
Experts predict the
opt-out movement will get some of what it wants
New survey
suggests education “insiders” are listening to the opt-out movement
Hechinger Report by EMMANUEL FELTON September 25, 2015
Dolores Ramos, 16,
right, joins dozens of Highland High School students in Albuquerque, N.M., as
students staged a walkout Monday March 2, 2015, to protest a new standardized
test they say isn’t an accurate measurement of their education. Students
frustrated over the new exam walked out of schools across the state Monday in
protest as the new exam was being given. The backlash came as millions of U.S. students
start taking more rigorous exams aligned with Common Core standards. AP
Photo/Russell Contreras
With up to 80
percent of students refusing to take federally mandated tests in some
districts, politicians and education policymakers are paying attention to the
national opt-out movement.
A survey conducted
this month by the consulting firm Whiteboard Advisors revealed that education
policy and political “insiders” think that the opt-out movement will likely
sway many state legislatures, but will struggle to change things in Washington.
Only 47 percent of
those surveyed, including current and former U.S. Department of Education
leaders, Congressional staffers, state school chiefs and experts at think
tanks, expect to see any change to federal law. By comparison, 70 percent say
they think the thousands of students refusing to take exams will force states
to rethink what tests they give and how they use the results of those tests to
judge students, educators and schools.
Florida superintendents revolt: We have ‘lost
confidence’ in state’s school accountability system
Florida’s
school superintendents are revolting against the state’s accountability system
that uses standardized test scores to measure students, teachers and schools.
They just issued a statement saying that they “have lost confidence” in the
system’s accuracy and are calling for a suspension and a review of the system. The Florida Association of District School
Superintendents, which represents the state’s 67 district leaders, issued the
statement after most of the school chiefs met in Tampa with state schools
Commissioner Pam Stewart. They expressed their concerns about the
accountability system, which is based on the scores students receive on the
Florida Standards Assessments, but she apparently did nothing to temper their
concerns and they issued the statement that bluntly says: Florida district school superintendents have
lost confidence in the current accountability system for the students of the
State of Florida.
Testing Resistance & Reform News: September 16 -
22, 2015
FairTest Submitted
by fairtest on September 22, 2015 - 12:43pm
Another week with
even more assessment reform victories to report as the "Enough is
enough!" movement against test misuse and overuse continues to accelerate
across the nation.
Pope Francis visit:
Spring-Ford school board member Joe Ciresi is part of choir
By Eric Devlin,
The Mercury POSTED: 09/25/15,
3:05 PM EDT | UPDATED: 1 DAY AGO
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