tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post3999438271688865564..comments2024-03-29T04:34:05.185-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Sampling the PARCCPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-89263727570881449522016-01-26T23:35:06.453-05:002016-01-26T23:35:06.453-05:00As someone who has taught math from middle school ...As someone who has taught math from middle school to Ph.D. students and spent a career since writing software, my first reaction on seeing the equation editor is WHAT THE HELL? So, we waste class time teaching students to use a tool that they will never use except to take this test. Expletives are very warranted. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02193970368462772323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-50802392559063243772015-04-08T05:57:46.278-04:002015-04-08T05:57:46.278-04:00Hi...........
Thanks for sharing nice blog post Sa...Hi...........<br />Thanks for sharing nice blog post <a href="http://www.brandwarriors.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">Sampling Staff</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-77481126651696715492015-02-21T10:11:18.129-05:002015-02-21T10:11:18.129-05:00Thanks for carrying on the great American traditi...Thanks for carrying on the great American tradition of muckraking, Peter. The fraudulence of these "smarter" tests needs to be exposed. Sadly few teachers have the intellectual self-confidence to attack them. Ponderosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09545364294922565689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-13615503991562030562015-02-20T13:45:08.195-05:002015-02-20T13:45:08.195-05:00With you on this one. I also teach 5th grade. My s...With you on this one. I also teach 5th grade. My students will face the NWEA MAP in three subjects three times during the year, the STAR reading and math at least three times during the year, the SBAC for over 14 hours in the Spring, and the ISAT science test. 14 years of loving my job and then there is this year...la mèrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285972711283241700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-35301219707634258132015-02-14T18:40:05.402-05:002015-02-14T18:40:05.402-05:00Google Anita Hoge. Read her research and WEEP! She...Google Anita Hoge. Read her research and WEEP! She lays out where we've been, where we are and where we are heading. It'll make you sick.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02160859997155354250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-14919857682253892862015-02-14T14:38:35.747-05:002015-02-14T14:38:35.747-05:00I addressed this comment to RI Education Commissio...I addressed this comment to RI Education Commissioner Deborah Gist on a post of hers on fb: Deborah A. Gist, Please read this blog post and tell me honestly and with integrity if the PARCC is a high quality assessment enabling us to see if schools are doing all they can to help students succeed:<br />http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/20…/…/sampling-parcc.html<br /><br /> This is her response to me: Sheila, I would caution you to rest your opinions about PARCC based on someone who is a self-proclaimed "grumpy old teacher." I have also taken PARCC samples and have seen the amazing work of the teachers and other educators who have been working on this development for several years now. This is an exciting step in the right direction.<br />Sheila Ressegerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03825902968436088673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-25440065001224895882015-02-10T11:47:02.350-05:002015-02-10T11:47:02.350-05:00I took the 4th grade ELA SBAC. It was awful - for ...I took the 4th grade ELA SBAC. It was awful - for all the reasons you cite. (I ranted about these too: http://gladlyteche.blogspot.com). <br /><br />It's not just that the tests don't measure reading comprehension - no standardized test does. You can't test for comprehension or knowledge directly, the way you can look at cholesterol. You can only ask students to do things that (presumably) can only be done if they do know or understand things. It's hard to fake this kind of performance; and frankly, if you can fake it perfectly, then perhaps you really do understand it - witness that boy who passed the Louisiana bar exam without ever having studied law. <br /><br />What bothers me is that these tests teach students to read in bizarre, fake, headache-inducing ways that yield nothing. It doesn't help students see how enjoying literature helps stimulate ideas, and it sure doesn't show them how to enjoy it. It kind of breaks your heart, doesn't it? In five years, I'm going to be spending my time in the community college classroom trying to un-teach all this crap. (Kids who've been to private school, or who have highly literate parents, will of course already have had their separate instructions.)<br /><br />Loathsome and convoluted as the SBAC/PARCC tests are, the root of the evil here is the multiple choice question. The International GCSE doesn't use them; its reading comprehension exam asks students to read an article by an actual writer, and then to answer questions which resemble the kinds of questions that we really do ask of people who've read something we haven't: What's this about? No kidding - a trip to Peru? What did the writer like best? What did she mean by that? Why does she say she won't go back?" And so on. All answers are just that, actual written answers that extend over several sentences. But then, there's no $$ in that kind of test.<br /><br />Madeleinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16055922376249533020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-23843786697917418252015-02-09T08:21:53.218-05:002015-02-09T08:21:53.218-05:00Toni....you couldn't be more correct. STARVE ...Toni....you couldn't be more correct. STARVE THE BEAST is the only answer at this point. They have billions of $$$$$ but we have what they want....the kids to supply them with their heroin fix of data. Parents must stand up and REFUSE the NAEP and national tests like PARCC, Smarter Balance and whatever crap name they want to put on it. People also need to know that hiding behind any assessment company your state hires is either PARCC or AIR/Smarter Balance. TN hired Measurement Inc and they contract their work to AIR/Smarter Balance. These people should be sued for civil rights violations.Karen Brackenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16754837866780777763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-1507360918476032832015-02-09T00:04:39.759-05:002015-02-09T00:04:39.759-05:00OMG, Peter! I'm shipping you a wine box from ...OMG, Peter! I'm shipping you a wine box from the Edushyster's private stock ASAP. After PARCCing you deserve to drink it all in one sitting.laMissyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00516322307725011313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-45312944040869056542015-02-08T21:26:04.114-05:002015-02-08T21:26:04.114-05:00Sounds like the same BS offered as "rigor&quo...Sounds like the same BS offered as "rigor" on the Pearson created Virginia SOL reading test. And SOL doesn't stand for what it usually does unless you are a student measured by this junk. http://walkingtoschool.blogspot.com/2014/04/in-belly-of-oligarchy.html?m=1Mary Tedrowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07568681356512308199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-70667789881825282322015-02-08T18:16:02.052-05:002015-02-08T18:16:02.052-05:00You know, there's something fishy about that D...You know, there's something fishy about that DNA reading. You might track the DNA on a crop if Monsanto is looking to pick up royalties for contaminating farmers' seed lines, but not for "crop theft". This very cogent article recommends taking the actual thumbprint of the driver that picks up your crop, instead. <br />http://agalert.com/story/?id=5583<br />chemtchrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08983388475654325999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-27551289568770927612015-02-08T17:02:47.160-05:002015-02-08T17:02:47.160-05:00Refuse the tests. Don't make your kid have to ...Refuse the tests. Don't make your kid have to participate in this illegal testing scheme! If enough parents refused for their kids to take these assessments we could crash their whole model for assessment going forward. We have to stop going along to get along with this madness. Time to rise up.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02160859997155354250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-19540002176398417012015-02-08T16:28:44.015-05:002015-02-08T16:28:44.015-05:00If I had a PARCC sanctioned rubric for assessing t...If I had a PARCC sanctioned rubric for assessing takedown's of PARCC sample items, I am confident that your work would earn "Exemplary" status in every category.<br /><br />Since looking at the Ovid/Anne Sexton sample they released a few years back, I have often thought: "This company knew that they have billions...BILLIONS...of dollars to make from their tests and this is the best they could do to recruit buyers for their assessments?!" Give me just 1 billion dollars and a month and I will happily produce tests (even within the restrictions of PARCC's lousy computer-based format) that would make English teachers around the country think: "These aren't perfect, but these are tests that are asking my students to do the kinds of thinking and analysis and synthesizing of ideas/sources that have merit. And the sources/reading they are asked to work with are not of the sort that will lead many students to shut down within ten minutes of taking the test."rdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17695065804271186643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-43990963222768343032015-02-08T15:47:03.308-05:002015-02-08T15:47:03.308-05:00Peter-I love your blog. You also play trombone-ye...Peter-I love your blog. You also play trombone-yes!<br /><br />I teach physics in an Indiana high school, so I am in the heart of reformy land. We have rejected CCSS, but I can't see where our standards are much different.<br /><br />I looked at the PARCC Math test, as math is the other language I speak when teaching. I am gobsmacked. My overall impression is that most of my kids would have no idea what to do on topics of data analysis which dominates this test. I get this sense because I have to teach them data analysis in my class; few come to me with any idea of fitting real data curves. Holy shite. <br /><br />The initial barrier is that one must use an equation editor to answer many of the parts. Equation editors are not only a royal pain, they are a tremendous time suck. It seems stupid to require a computers-are-dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks workaround when you actually want to know math skills. On timed tests, isn't a precious thing, well, time?<br /><br />Other issues I take with it are the ordering of the question parts. Prompts for answers appear before the request to create the graph upon which the questions are based. The questions are wordy. Your ELA DNA reading was an easy read, while the popcorn question on the math portion was so dense (no, the cute little picture and the incomplete data table were no help at all) that I gave up on it. The Chinese study is a beaut, asking kids to delineate what conclusions can be drawn from a statistical data set, which goes to the question of causation versus correlation. After being subjected to so much abuse as a teacher based on really sloppy conclusions drawn from data analyzed by econometricians (Chetty et al, anyone?), I had to laugh. Kids are being held to more rigorous standards than those who are planning to test the bejeezus out of them.<br /><br />On the other hand, when I have a lot of spare time, I think I would have fun with most of these questions. I doubt the same would be true of most of my kids. I would be interested in asking their opinion, perhaps after the AP exam. I love teaching teens because they still can be pretty frank.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05168566567751854277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-1061894449205355342015-02-08T15:22:12.823-05:002015-02-08T15:22:12.823-05:00There have been a few posts by people who've t...There have been a few posts by people who've taken sample tests; inspired me to do one after our elementary school's sparsely-attended PARCC Night: http://crunchyprogressiveparentingtwo.blogspot.com/2015/01/i-took-practice-parcc-and-i-liked-it-not.html<br /><br />And just so it's not just Peter and me, here's another, from Sarah Blaine: http://parentingthecore.com/2014/12/07/nj-governors-task-force-take-the-parcc-i-did/CrunchyMamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434606158400653601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-52267527686339763692015-02-08T15:03:58.226-05:002015-02-08T15:03:58.226-05:00I took the sample tests when they first came out a...I took the sample tests when they first came out and could have written almost the same blog but with more expletives. I have children subjected to these tests but they do better than I do thanks to all of their online test prep. I have lived with these tests for several years when my children had to do test prep at home using Study Island. One day when my son got particularly frustrated I tried to help him. There is a special kind of torture they do when you miss an item where they use and algorithm to add questions to make sure you cry. Since he has to answer questions until he gets 80% correct, if he gets a few wrong in a row that sometimes is a lot a questions to go through. I remember one night I sent him to bed and stayed up a couple more hours trying to get him to pass (torture). I then realized the insanity of it and told his teachers to quit assigning him Study Island. Unfortunately, he learned to like them as a challenge. He thinks it is funny to try and figure out what the test people want for answers- but he is very aware that it has nothing to do with learning and that their right answer is often not the one he would typically chose and make a case for. So my children have learned that their is authentic learning, and then their is a weird artificial test learning that they only use for standardized tests. I hope the sheer stupidity of the task makes them career and college ready!Jannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07132195897201545933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-45518295387589558802015-02-08T14:32:59.049-05:002015-02-08T14:32:59.049-05:00My poor little fifth graders are being subjected t...My poor little fifth graders are being subjected to five rounds of standardized testing this year. Three NWEA MAP math assessments (allegedly only for placement into middle school math.... but oh, yes, also for our formative and summative assessments, as if we teachers don't even know the kids we've spent 600 hours with so far this year...), the SBACC and some leftover STAR science test. Five #@$%! rounds of standardized crappola. So much wasted time and resources, it sucks almost all the joy out of teaching. And it certainly sucks out a lot of joy-in-learning for the students, too.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15993384945520818397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-49062154346973795502015-02-08T13:56:15.434-05:002015-02-08T13:56:15.434-05:00Maine is using Smarter Balanced (Assessment Consor...Maine is using Smarter Balanced (Assessment Consortium or SBAC) and the issue here is iPads, not computers, since many schools bought into that "solution" two years ago. Last year, my husband's class (grades 6/7/8 in one classroom) piloted the SBAC test and finally gave up on using the iPads because there were so many glitches, punted to the leftover MacBooks from the previous "solution" (which some of the students had never really used) and managed OK. This year, as the state heads into its first formal SBAC testing cycle, the Maine Department of Education just this week issued an advisory* that "keyboards are no longer required, only recommended" even though the SBAC has said otherwise. Should be interesting. <br /><br />[http://mainedoenews.net/2015/02/06/maine-doe-recommends-rather-than-requires-assessment-keyboards/]Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02768986281351213872noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-31038942961008883852015-02-08T13:49:47.798-05:002015-02-08T13:49:47.798-05:00OMG, scrolling on the tiny Chromebook screens with...OMG, scrolling on the tiny Chromebook screens with a trackpad just about sent me over the edge. Partly why it took me so long to get as far as I did!CrunchyMamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434606158400653601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-61667075977661645312015-02-08T13:44:35.381-05:002015-02-08T13:44:35.381-05:00I think my students would have done me great bodil...I think my students would have done me great bodily harm if I had forced them to take such an inappropriate and useless "assessment."Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03354619377245004707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-64068119280390473692015-02-08T13:07:45.190-05:002015-02-08T13:07:45.190-05:00We took the sample third grade ELA performance tas...We took the sample third grade ELA performance task in a staff meeting on Chromebooks (which were purchased withe RttT money specifically for testing purposes) and imagine doing the test on an even smaller screen. I also get to have a substitute during all of the ELA PARCC days in my school because I am needed for "tech support" in the classes that will be using the Chromebooks. So, all of my primary grade students will not see me for two weeks because I am needed for tech support that there is no training for, so my presence will be for naught.Mrs. Y-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10751676823720498599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-78103029915742297362015-02-08T12:36:20.699-05:002015-02-08T12:36:20.699-05:00We took the 4th grade ELA sample test at a staff m...We took the 4th grade ELA sample test at a staff meeting in October. It was incredibly frustrating. I ended up skipping all the open response questions because at that point I was so aggravated thinking about our poor 4th graders being subjected to it that I no longer gave a crap. As a school counselor, I'm anticipating having plenty of business during testing this year.<br /><br />The only bright spot was that one of the selections was a story my younger sister had published in Highlights magazine a few years ago. That part was pretty cool.Lauriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13186805474107210436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-6510556834687078422015-02-08T12:35:31.064-05:002015-02-08T12:35:31.064-05:00Thanks for taking one for the team Peter. My prin...Thanks for taking one for the team Peter. My principal wanted us to prep our students, but fortunately I do not have computers in my classroom. When they tried the pilot of the SBAC with our lower grades, students were in tears, they were frustrated, and many of them just plain quit. That was last year, this year we are all taking them. I hope our computers burn and our server crashes...we have very slow service and a narrow bandwidth. This should be fun. I think it's time to find a new job and offer tutoring in reading. I have an M.A. in linguistics, we older types will be the last ones that know how to teach humans, as opposed to monitoring them on computers.Old Teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05906965809756360801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-18217037182701740062015-02-08T11:46:24.444-05:002015-02-08T11:46:24.444-05:00I had a headache after only 30 minutes with the Gr...I had a headache after only 30 minutes with the Grade 4 ELS sample. I would have likely needed a new desktop computer after attempting what you just did, because I would have ended up doing it grievous bodily harm.CrunchyMamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434606158400653601noreply@blogger.com