Need links about profiency tests

[Syn_Dem]

I need some links about the negative aspects of this new profiency test thing Bush initiated. Im writng a paper on it and all link would help. Thanks.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. 2/3rds failed NY Regents Math test...they found it to be flawed

37% passed with 55 or above compared to 61% last year
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=145876


use the links in blue here for further researh
http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/082703/a0127regents.html

OHIO SCHOOL PROFICIENCY TESTS
An Analytic Survey
by Gordon Brumm Ph.D., on behalf of The Committee for the Fourth “R”


What This Report Is About
Most discussions of the proficiency-test controversy have been reminiscent of the story about the blind men and the elephant. They have aimed to show only one side of the controversy and one part of the overall situation. Hence they could not show relationships between one aspect of the controversy and another.

In this report I aim to present the controversy clearly and as a whole. I aim to show the structure of the controversy, to examine its various threads and untangle them. This means considering all the arguments pro and con, as well as the criticisms and rebuttals. It means focusing on the issues (questions) that need to be answered in order to resolve the controversy.
more..
http://www.lkwdpl.org/gr4test/ohioprof.html


School Superintendents Split on Proficiency Tests

Ohio school superintendents are giving mixed reviews to proficiency tests.

In order to graduate high school, students currently have to pass a test that's based on what they should have learned through the eighth grade. And in two years, fourth graders who don't pass a reading test won't be promoted to fifth grade.

About 500 school superintendents from across Ohio gathered in Columbus Tuesday, and Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen asked them about the exams.
http://statenews.org/news/2000/august/opr-080800-02.html

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. Pros and Cons of Standards and Tests... Bush agenda for nationwide testing

http://www.sambarpress.com/chuck/pros.htm

Eye On Education
http://www.wgbh.org/wgbh/eyeoned/about/


Pros Cons of Pay for Competencies
... To read more. The Pros and Cons of Pay ... In a well-designed pay-for-knowledge system,
the validity and reliability of proficiency tests can be quite strong. ...
www.jboyett.com/payfor1.htm

How Do You Want Your Child Judged?

MILWAUKEE, Wis. Whether you're a parent, teacher, or policymaker, it's impossible to ignore how the long arm of standardized testing is reaching into every nook and cranny of education. U.S. students are already testedmore than any other children in the industrialized world. And it's getting worse.This thorny topic is addressed in the Spring 1999 issue of RethinkingSchools, a national independent journal on school reform. As the lead editorial (see p. 1) notes:

"Most ominous is the increasing reliance of 'high-stakes' standardized
tests -- and how these tests, tied to state standards, shape the
curriculum. Standardized tests mandate one 'correct' answer.... So nice, so efficient. And so unlike the real world."
http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives/mar1999/msg00009.html

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. read Alfie Kohn's "The Schools Our Children Deserve..

Moving Beyond the Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards"

This is a GREAT book...you'll never again listen to a speech about education the same way after reading this book.

[Syn_Dem]

4. Thanks so much

:)