DIANE RAVITCH: Shame on Michelle Rhee: looks like she cheated on standardized tests

[yurbud]

How many more times do these corporate education reformers have to caught cheating, shunting aside special ed and difficult student to goose their scores, and running every kind of scam they can to justify busting teachers unions and privatizing public schools and skim our tax dollars for Wall Street before Obama gives these people the boot in the ass they so richly deserve?

The only difference between Rhee and Arne Duncan is the lipstick and high heels. If Obama wants to energize some of the Democratic Party's most loyal foot soldiers for 2012 (and actually pursue effective policy) he should put educators in charge of the Department of Education instead of the pets of billionaires trying siphon tax dollars out of our schools and into their already wealthy pockets.

The corporate education reform movement has had no more visible star than Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools. After she left office last fall, she formed a new political organization to raise $1 billion to advocate for the changes she believes in. She has been advising some of the nation's most conservative governors to fight the teachers' unions and rely on standardized tests to fire or reward teachers.

Her credibility was her alleged success in lifting up test scores in the low-performing public schools of the nation's capitol during her nearly four years in charge.

Now, however, that credibility has been directly challenged by revelations of possible widespread test fraud in the D.C. schools while she was in charge. An article in USA Today reveals that more than half the public schools in D.C. were found to have an unusual number of erasures on standardized tests of reading and math.

***

Her celebrity results from the fact that she has emerged as the national spokesman for the effort to subject public education to free-market forces, including competition, decision by data, and consumer choice. All of this sounds very appealing when your goal is to buy a pound of butter or a pair of shoes, but it is not a sensible or wise approach to creating good education. What it produces, predictably, is cheating, teaching to bad tests, institutionalized fraud, dumbing down of tests, and a narrowed curriculum.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-29/michelle-rhees-cheating-scandal-diane-ravitch-blasts-education-reform-star/

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. We really are seeing the child produced from the marriage between politics

and business is a feral liar.

[exboyfil]

2. On the flip side does that mean

that D.C. schools are even worse than imagined? $18K/yr per student???

[plumbob]

22. Depends on how you feel about standardized tests. For instance, in

Texas, the exit level Social Studies test is taken in April of your junior year, even though you actually have another year of school after that, but never mind. There are 55 questions on the test with 4 choices each, and the questions cover the following subjects:

K-6 Social Studies, including
§113.2. Social Studies, Kindergarten.

(a) Introduction.

(1) In Kindergarten, the focus is on the self, home, family, and classroom. The study of our state and national heritage begins with an examination of the celebration of patriotic holidays and the contributions of historical people. The concept of chronology is introduced. Students discuss geographic concepts of location and physical and human characteristics of places. Students are introduced to the basic human needs of food, clothing, and shelter and to ways that people meet these needs. Students learn the purpose of rules and the role of authority figures in the home and school. Students learn customs, symbols, and celebrations that represent American beliefs and principles and contribute to our national identity. Students compare family customs and traditions and describe examples of technology in the home and school. Students acquire information from a variety of oral and visual sources.

(2) To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich material such as biographies; folktales, myths, and legends; and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections may include You're a Grand Old Flag and a children's biography of George Washington. Motivating resources are also available from museums, historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.

(3) The eight strands of the essential knowledge and skills for social studies are intended to be integrated for instructional purposes. Skills listed in the geography and social studies skills strands in subsection (b) of this section should be incorporated into the teaching of all essential knowledge and skills for social studies. A greater depth of understanding of complex content material can be attained when integrated social studies content from the various disciplines and critical-thinking skills are taught together.

(4) Throughout social studies in Kindergarten-Grade 12, students build a foundation in history; geography; economics; government; citizenship; culture; science, technology, and society; and social studies skills. The content, as appropriate for the grade level or course, enables students to understand the importance of patriotism, function in a free enterprise society, and appreciate the basic values of our state and nation as referenced in the Texas Education Code, §28.002(h).


The full list of elementary is here:
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter113/index.html

You will also be tested on:
7th Grade Texas History
8th Grade US History to 1877
9th Grade World Geography
10th Grade World History
11th Grade US History 1877 to Present


Just 55 questions to accurately measure your knowledge about all that. I'm sure that 11 years of study can be brought down to just 55 questions, right? That's an average of five questions for each year of study. And furthermore, it's not possible that you could know the answer to thousands of questions and just happen to miss enough of this arbitrary selection of 55 to not qualify, is it?

So I don't get why state bar exams aren't shorter - law school is about 2 years, so 10 question ought to cover it.

Medical school exit exam somewhat longer.

And since driver's ed is only a semester, surely the state driving test only needs to be one question. Should be plenty!!

[plumbob]

23. Forgot to give the link to the past tests:

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/taks/released-tests/

Enjoy.

[TalkingDog]

3. Okay, I'll whine just a sconce...

I posted the original article from the original source (USA Today) 2 days ago and it sank like a stone....

But I'm glad this is getting some views.

[yurbud]

4. do you have a link to that thread?

[TalkingDog]

7. as requested

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x772564

[yurbud]

12. back at top of GD

[TalkingDog]

16. Smooches on your cartoon bald head....

n/t

[rpannier]

11. I remembered it

I even linked to it on a post I made concerning irregularities in Georgia testing.
Mine went down with yours.

[truth2power]

5. Unusual number of erasures, AND they need to check to see

if the erasures are almost exclusively incorrect to correct answer. That would be fishy in itself.

It's at least as likely that erasures would go right to wrong or even wrong to wrong. IMO, I don't think elementary students are much into erasing anyway.

The problem with scantron tampering could be solved in any number of ways to assure the validity of the results.


edit> I meant, right to wrong.

[yurbud]

6. I don't know how they get kids to take that crap seriously in the first place

[Iwillnevergiveup]

8. This USA Today piece

has been up a couple of different times, and I too, am happy to see it's return. Ms. Rhee also made the last issue of New York Magazine.


http://nymag.com/news/features/michelle-rhee-2011-3/ind...

##snip##

"When, in the midst of Wisconsin's standoff, I ask Rhee whether she was supportive of the draconian anti-union bill, she says no. She believes that teachers should be able to collectively bargain salaries and benefits, though not issues surrounding in-class performance. But she adds that she sympathizes with the impulse behind the legislation. 'There's frustration, and rightly so, with the way collective bargaining has played out over the last couple of decades.'

"'Rhee is trying to hold togeher a coalition of Democrats who are somewhat skeptical of teachers' unions and right-wing ideologues who want to destroy unions entirely,' says Richard Kahlenberg of the left-leaning Century Foundation. He argues that the popular position of hte moment - love the teacher, hate the union - is internally inconsistent and unsustainable, and wrote in a recent Washington Post column that 'Democrats like Michelle Rhee paved the way for Scott Walker.'"

##snip##

[yurbud]

13. who does she think is qualified to address ''in class performance''? Her billionaire patrons?

[yurbud]

14. Democrats who are ''somewhat skeptical of teachers unions'' need to be replaced

[Doctor_J]

20. One of those lives in the WH

:cry:

[Iwillnevergiveup]

9. 10 or 12 years ago

when all this high stakes testing really took off and there were monetary rewards for teachers (along with incredible pressure), a good friend who was a kindergarten teacher told me a tale that still leaves me pretty breathless.

Since her kids weren't tested, she was asked to proctor a 2nd grade class during testing, along with the regular teacher. The teacher advised the kids several times, "If you don't know the answer to any question, LEAVE IT BLANK AND RAISE YOUR HAND." She then took a seat at her desk, and as kids raised their hands, she asked them to come forward and had them point to a choice on the answer sheet. If it was wrong, she shook her head no until they eventually got the right one. This avoided any erasures that might later have become suspect. As few as 3 or 4 correct answers could really spiral the final scores upward.

In another instance, I sat in at a 1st grade level meeting in 2005 about 6 weeks before testing. The reading coach advised us all to target 3 or 4 kids who, if given lots of extra attention, could bring up scores for the whole school.

Won't mention the school districts, but it probably doesn't matter. This cheating has gone on for years and years.

[rpannier]

10. national spokesman for the effort to subject public education to free-market forces,

Her approach is proof of it

She cheated, made a bundle and will most likely face no reprocussions for her behavior

[Iwillnevergiveup]

15. Would love to see

this whole "Waiting for Superman" crowd go down in flames. That would include Oprah.

So disingenuous, so wrong for teachers, parents and kids.

[yurbud]

18. when you're the darling of self-appointed billionaire education reformers, you never have to

say you're sorry.

[KoKo]

17. K&R...!

[Doctor_J]

19. This is what really bugs me about the prez

His attachment to people like Rhee, Duncan, Geitner, Daley, and a host of other corporate, anti-American psychos. It tends to overshadow the good things.

[yurbud]

24. it does not inspire trust, and when he compromises, it makes you wonder how hard or even if

he tried for the good policy or just went straight for the corporate lapdog position.

[Fearless]

21. Tests, tests, tests, that's all the Obama corporation understands.