tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post1472562190498374371..comments2024-03-28T19:47:39.985-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Aldeman in NYT: Up Is DownPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-89728922022956679712015-02-11T17:14:36.968-05:002015-02-11T17:14:36.968-05:00Fabulous analysis. Tests designed to find failure ...Fabulous analysis. Tests designed to find failure will never measure incremental progress. For students with special needs, the benchmarks are set to far apart, nuanced learning cannot be detected. They fail. They drop out. They are no longer left behind as they don't exist.Shirleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11756613176679057344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-90208200523438445392015-02-07T16:45:21.543-05:002015-02-07T16:45:21.543-05:00Well done. Well done. chemtchrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08983388475654325999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-44513172551907845112015-02-07T11:27:35.434-05:002015-02-07T11:27:35.434-05:00Keep up the good work, Peter! Yeah, what exactly ...Keep up the good work, Peter! Yeah, what exactly are these tests measuring? The tests are rarely attacked on that front, but to me that's their biggest weakness. Some purport to measure "literacy" --but is literacy really a thng? I am a new homeowner and, while I scored 800 on the GRE verbal, my home maintenance literacy is zero. There's a study that shows "bad readers" who play baseball understand baseball articles better than "good readers". There is no "literacy". There are "literacIES". And these literacies are coextensive with one's fund of knowledge. I cannot be literate in home maintenance until I learn a lot more about it. People who seem more literate IN GENERAL are the ones who possess more GENERAL knowledge about the world. But within that general literacy there can be gaping lacunae. Conversely, an "illiterate" person can be stunningly literate in certain areas, e.g.. fashion or fishing or gutter repair. Holding a 7th grade ELA teacher accountable for a kid's "literacy" is Kafkaesque. Literacy is dependent on the thousands of streams of knowledge that ought to pour into a kids' head from birth onward. So you're right: the tests are frauds. Their makers don't even understand that the concept of literacy is fraught and complicated. They don't even know the issues. There are similar conceptual errors with the tests that purport to measure "critical thinking", etc.Ponderosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09545364294922565689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-33128656820115565182015-02-07T08:59:06.365-05:002015-02-07T08:59:06.365-05:00Excellent commentary, Peter. Nicely parsed. What&#...Excellent commentary, Peter. Nicely parsed. What's hidden under all the crap is that the responsibility for any given assessment score is solely, and I use that word with consideration, on the shoulders of the teacher under this paradigm. <br /><br />Visually it looks like a big, fat bulls-eye.Clemsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17758044105393970926noreply@blogger.com