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who's grading those tests the billionaires are imposing on kids? low-level Target managers: $11/hr

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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 03:56 AM
Original message
who's grading those tests the billionaires are imposing on kids? low-level Target managers: $11/hr
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 04:41 AM by Hannah Bell
Standardized testing has become central to education policy in the United States. After dramatically expanding in the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act, testing has been further enshrined by the Obama administration’s $3.4 billion “Race to the Top” grants. Given the ongoing debate over these policies, it might be useful to hear about the experiences of a hidden sector of the education workforce: those of us who make our living scoring these tests...

I recently spent four months working for two test-scoring companies, scoring tens of thousands of papers, while routinely clocking up to seventy hours a week...“Wait, someone scores standardized tests? I thought those were all done by machines.” This is usually the first response I get when I tell people I’ve been eking out a living as a test-scoring temp. The companies responsible for scoring standardized tests have not yet figured out a way to electronically process the varied handwriting and creative flourishes of millions of third to twelfth graders...Instead, every year, the written-response portions of innumerable standardized tests given across the country are scored by human beings—tens of thousands of us, a veritable army of temporary workers.

I often wonder who students (or teachers and parents, for that matter) picture scoring their papers. When I was a student, I envisioned my tests being graded by qualified teachers... This idea, it turns out, is as much a fantasy as imagining all the tests are being scored by machines...Test scoring is a huge business, dominated by a few multinational corporations, which arrange the work in order to extract maximum profit.

Test-scoring companies make their money by hiring a temporary workforce each spring, people willing to work for low wages (generally $11 to $13 an hour), no benefits, and no hope of long-term employment—not exactly the most attractive conditions for trained and licensed educators. So all it takes to become a test scorer is a bachelor’s degree, a lack of a steady job, and a willingness to throw independent thinking out the window and follow the absurd and ever-changing guidelines set by the test-scoring companies. Some of us scorers are retired teachers, but most are former office workers, former security guards, or former holders of any of the diverse array of jobs previously done by the currently unemployed. When I began working in test scoring three years ago, my first “team leader” was qualified to supervise, not because of his credentials in the field of education, but because he had been a low-level manager at a local Target.

http://www.monthlyreview.org/101201dimaggio.php


the absurdity, hypocrisy & lies of the education deformers become more apparent every day.

this is the "high-quality" education they want for your kids: like the author says:

"does it inspire confidence to know that, for the people scoring the tests at the center of this nation’s education policy, the alternative is working in fast food?"


the equivalent of a call center sweatshop = the graders for your kids' futures.

personal, individualized attention? like hell.

PIECE-RATES. To score student essays.

"At 30 to 70 cents per paper, depending on the test, the incentive, especially for a home worker, is to score as quickly as possible in order to earn any money: at 30 cents per paper, you have to score forty papers an hour to make $12 an hour, and test scoring requires a lot of mental breaks...I have often wondered how much money I lose for every trip to the bathroom, and debated taking my laptop there with me. And since you are only guaranteed employment until the papers run out, you are in a race against all your phantom coworkers to score as many papers as you can, as fast as possible. "


and the results of THIS is what they're going to base TEACHER EVALUATIONS on.

it's completely sick.

yeah, right, THIS is going to improve education.

like hell.

you have to read the whole thing. unbelievable.


As a friend of mine was saying his goodbyes to the coworkers in his room at the end of this year’s scoring season, his seventy-year-old supervisor, a veteran test-scoring warrior, uttered the words I imagine many test scorers hope to hear: “I hope I never see you here again.” This is a measure of the cynicism with which many test scorers approach the industry, recognizing that it is fundamentally a game, which too many people are forced to play—but “hey, it beats working at McDonald’s or Subway!” Yet amid all the hopes of escaping the industry, these test-scoring companies are successfully expanding and are now hoping to get their hands on billions in “school turnaround” money handed out by the Obama administration and state governments. Pearson, for example, has “formed the K-12 Solutions Group, and…is seeking school-turnaround contracts in at least eight states… could draw on its testing, technology and other products to carry out a coherent school-improvement effort.”9





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Tunkamerica Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 04:44 AM
Response to Original message
1. did you post this same article a month or so ago?
or did you comment on it?
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 04:46 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. no. and your point is what? are you the posting monitor?
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 04:50 AM by Hannah Bell
a search shows me it was posted in the education forum, by three people & got in total about 15 comments, some from the posters.

i think it needs a wider audience.

i didn't see it & not very many others did.

parents, for one, need to know that fast-food workers & security guards are going to grade their kids' essays in the brave new world of ed deform.

people should also know that the results of that grading will determine whether teachers get to keep their jobs or not.
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Tunkamerica Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 04:57 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. no, i commented and i thought it was you who responded
chill. you don't always have to be combative.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 05:01 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. no, my name is not "crikkett". not sure why you remember it as me.
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 05:01 AM by Hannah Bell
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XanaDUer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:26 PM
Response to Reply #2
89. Thanks for posting it again
I certainly didn't know this.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:39 AM
Response to Reply #1
32. What's your point? IT BEARS REPEATING, IF SO. THIS IS A VERITABLE CRIME.
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Dappleganger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:05 AM
Response to Reply #1
46. So what?
I had not heard of it before today and am enraged.
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xchrom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 05:03 AM
Response to Original message
5. Recommend
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dkf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 05:23 AM
Response to Original message
6. Do you also disagree with using SAT, ACT, MCAT and LSAT scores?
All of this is so disillusioning as to how worthless testing and grading is period. What value is any grading system? Maybe the entire educational system is just a hoax deceiving us into thinking we are accomplishing something by getting a grade now being revealed as meaningless.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 05:42 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. if they have writing exams graded by $11/hr fast food workers doing it for 30 cents an essay; yes, i
strongly disagree.

and if the results of that scoring determines whether professors get to keep their jobs or not; yes, i strongly disagree.
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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 05:50 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. I thought the article said that the graders all had at least a BA
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 05:56 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. yes. a BA. in anything, including PE. no other experience required.
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 05:58 AM by Hannah Bell
"most are former office workers, former security guards, or former holders of any of the diverse array of jobs previously done by the currently unemployed"
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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:02 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. why are you denigrating working people? you profess to stand for them
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 06:02 AM by cali
but you often exhibit nothing but contempt for them. I have, for instance, a friend who's a mason. That's right, he works with his hands. He's also one of the best read people I know. He has his BA- from Yale as a matter of fact, but he's never held a white collar job since he graduated from college some 30 years ago. By your lights, David wouldn't qualify to grade these test sheets. What do you want here? Teachers doing it? Do you think they want to do it? Could they take on the work load.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:06 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. oh, gag me, cali. there are probably some english professors who are good masons as well.
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 06:39 AM by Hannah Bell
but you don't get good masons, on average, by putting out a call for english teachers.

you don't get good essay scorers by:

1) taking anyone with a BA
2) making it a temp job paying $11/hr, no benefits, or
3) paying by the piece, making speed of grading the main criteria for making money
4) doing the grading in mass quantities until people's eyes bleed
5) setting it up as a competition for money with other graders such that if you take a bathroom break the essays may have "run out" when you get back
6) tell the graders to start grading differently midway through the grading period because the grades aren't coming back according to the statistical predictions

and you don't:

7) base teacher retention on the results of the above.


i know you didn't even read the article.

pernicious crap; piecework, casual labor, like any sweatshop, and that's what it is.

and that's what education is going to turn into, except for the "talented 10%" aka those who can pay the freight, our future lords and ladies.
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dkf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:08 AM
Response to Reply #10
12. Apparently only a grade/test score given by a teacher to a student has any meaning.
Any effort to test teachers is meaningless as is any effort to grade their effectiveness. Funny how that works.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:14 AM
Response to Reply #12
14. you try grading even 50 essays consistently, let alone 5000, & see how you feel about it then.
and you try doing it on the clock, by piecework, when if you don't grade enough, you only make $4 an hour.

you'll see how quickly you stop thinking about "the children".
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reggie the dog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:42 AM
Response to Reply #14
19. 50 essays is about 15 to 17 hours work
to properly grade, and yes, you need to take breaks if you want to grade kids consistently. this is a scandal and a half and a huge dis service to our youth
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theaocp Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 10:04 AM
Response to Reply #14
71. Fuckin-a right. n/t
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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:49 AM
Response to Reply #12
21. please read my comment #20.
I have to go teach, might be my last year.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:40 AM
Response to Reply #12
34. Did you READ the OP article??
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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:47 AM
Response to Reply #10
20. It may be the only job we teachers can find when we're laid off.
But it's not a question of qualifications for the job workers do. The need for workers to do highly qualified work like masonry, plumbing, welding (I worked as a welder for years), is getting very needed, (and with the loss of trade schools via school systems, much of the training will only be available via the military, but that's another discussion). Of course many workers are very bright, the brightest folks I've met were in heavy industry, but they haven't been trained to evaluate tests, they haven't been trained to read nuance etc. That's the problem.

If some private company decided that they could hire laid off teachers to do some masonry because the cost would be a lot cheaper, there would be a lot of walls collapsing in short order.
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eridani Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:22 AM
Response to Reply #10
25. Given union scale for masons, he'd be batshit crazy to be a test scorer n/t
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:41 AM
Response to Reply #10
35. Um, yeah, all those graders are Yalies.
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cali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:52 AM
Response to Reply #35
40. ooh, I just adore little straw men in the morning. goes sooo well with coffee.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:55 AM
Original message
your straw about the yalie mason ain't any great shakes either.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:03 AM
Response to Reply #40
45. I believe you were behind the counter at the Yale Straw-man Store.
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 08:04 AM by WinkyDink
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Dappleganger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:06 AM
Response to Reply #10
49. No she doesn't.
Your reading comprehension is awful.
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proud2BlibKansan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 09:14 AM
Response to Reply #10
69. What other professional responsibilities can temp workers do? How about surgery?
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 09:15 AM by proud2BlibKansan
Tooth extraction?

And before you say those are specialized skills, well so is scoring an essay.
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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:50 AM
Response to Reply #9
22. Hey Hannah!!
PE teachers actually give and evaluate tests!! ;)
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:14 AM
Response to Reply #22
24. i'm sure they do; i'd prefer they were pe tests rather than english essays, though.
i'm sure everyone can think of pe teachers or masons or people who only finished 4th grade that they think would competently score an english essay.

but on average, i don't think it's the case.

as you said, we'd never make the reverse case -- that a trade school degree is all that's needed to evaluate masonry.

people who aren't interested in language, don't care about it particularly -- perceive that "anyone can do it". writing is just like talking, to them.

and imo, no one can competently or fairly evaluate hundreds of essays in one sitting.

imo, what's happening is what's already happened with a lot of blue-collar work -- tasks broken down into their smallest components & separated from the whole so they become meaningless, "rationalized" so as to amount to checking off a list: headlights in front, check, horn functional, check, etc. -- then separated from the rest of the "production process" geographically --

done by anonymous part-time workers with no relationship to students or education or even english.

if they could outsource this work to india, they would -- and since plenty of people speak english in india, they probably will as soon as they get the checklist basic enough that the statistics will come out right.

really, i can't tell you how sick this article made me.
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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:56 AM
Response to Reply #24
42. Thanks
I'm an art teacher, and here in NYS we have to include writing in our curricula, as do PE teachers, most teach health and have essays and tests. I was being a nudge, that's why the winkie! The pe teachers are very sensitive...

I used to give a very intensive 25 page final in Art, but the district I'm in now thought that was ridiculous...

English is the most important subject, and I agree with you, ideally they should be the ones evaluating the english tests; math teachers for math tests (that's even scarier, I wouldn't want to rate a math test, though I feel trained and literate enough to evaluate English essays, at least better than non-educators, even writers).
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:58 AM
Response to Reply #42
44. we're talking about people with bachelors' degrees who take a temp job scoring essays.
and do hundreds in a day or so.
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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:05 AM
Response to Reply #44
47. I know, sorry for the tangent...
divergent thinker here...solidarity!
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:14 AM
Response to Reply #47
51. it's not my intention to say that pe teachers & masons are idiots. as i'm sure you know.
but they wouldn't be my first choice to score english essays.

nor, i expect, would they want english teachers grading the effectiveness of their sports program or evaluating their building skills.

nor would you want english teachers evaluating your students' mastery of art techniques.

there's some skill involved in all these things; but if you haven't worked in the medium, you only see the surface; you don't grasp what lies behind it.

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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:21 AM
Response to Reply #51
53. Amen.
That is why the English teachers here are given a day to rate the ELA Regents ...

I wasn't meaning to be difficult, if we had to have non English teachers rating, I'd rather have educators of any stripe rating than non-educators who have never graded anyone else's essays... (and I was thinking about my state where literacy has to be included in all curriculae...)

Of course it should always be subject matter teachers for the appropriate tests...


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Statistical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:25 AM
Response to Reply #24
56. "or people who only finished 4th grade "
Not many people who didn't finish 5th grade have a Bachelors degree.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:27 AM
Response to Reply #56
58. but some are better writers than people with bachelors degrees.
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uncommon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 10:09 AM
Response to Reply #56
73. Um, didn't you get the memo that a bachelor's is basically a kindergarten graduation certificate?
This conversation makes no sense.
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uncommon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 10:07 AM
Response to Reply #9
72. I'm an office worker.
And college educated. And got a 1350 on the SAT. And graduated with honors.

How's the view from your high horse? I'm positive I could grade an essay better than many teachers I have had and know.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 03:41 PM
Response to Reply #72
82. i scored in the 99th percentile on the verbal portion of the GRE's. I
wouldn't want the me who was freshly graduated with a BA scoring essays that would determine kids and teachers' futures as a temp working at piecework rates.
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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:43 PM
Response to Reply #82
90. Ditto
and evening kick.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:39 AM
Response to Reply #6
33. Why the personal question? The article stands by itself, NO?
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reggie the dog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:11 AM
Response to Original message
13. when i give essay quetions to my students
and they give me a 3 or 4 page essay my goal is to grade 3 or 4 an hour MAXIMUM!
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:20 AM
Response to Reply #13
15. teachers do most of their grading on their own time. they can take as little or as much time as
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 06:21 AM by Hannah Bell
they feel necessary to do the task justice. they can take a break when they feel burnt out, or need a snack, or have to pee, or need a nap, without fear that they'll lose money by doing so.

i can't imagine the results of such "grading," done in a few minutes, where you're basically looking to see if criteria 1, 2, 3, & 4 are present, end of story. that's the only way they could do it in the time allotted. you wouldn't even be reading the essays after doing so many, so fast.

it's a completely pointless exercise -- on the teaching end too. because you can be damn sure that all that's being taught about writing is to have criteria 1, 2, 3, & 4 clearly present in your "essay".

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reggie the dog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:40 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. my place is not longer in run of the mill public schools in the usa
it makes me very sad, i wanted to teach to give back to my community, but "normal" teaching now is preparing kids to be docile worker bees, whereas i thought that i was to help kids become masters of themselves able to logically and ratinally deal with the wolrd.

now in the elitist "international sections" or international schools where i live in france they still want me to help kids refine their logical/analytical thinking (as is still stressed in the french school system) but i get to teach history in english there, the parents were very happy at the beginning of the year meeting when i told them that i would NEVER give multiple choice tests.
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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:15 AM
Response to Reply #15
52. Critical points that many don't think about
time and diligence. On another tangent, so many teachers work over 50/60 hours a week between their contractual time and time outside of the contract to grade their tests/essays/reports/projects...

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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:38 AM
Response to Original message
16. Living close to a state capital
I've seen lots of the job ads for school testing, in fact I told a retired educator friend of mine about them. One silver lining is that with all the teacher lay offs at least more teachers will be grading these tests...maybe even me! Pretty tarnished silver there. Thanks Hannah, I've often griped about this and didn't think to gripe about it here. Big K&R
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:41 AM
Response to Reply #16
18. tarnished silver indeed. teachers' labor builds the deprofessionalizers wealth.
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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:22 AM
Response to Reply #18
55. Deprofessionalizers!
love that!
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Smarmie Doofus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:01 AM
Response to Original message
23. Either this administration will bring its sweatshop ethos to the teachers....
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 07:04 AM by Smarmie Doofus
>>>>>low wages (generally $11 to $13 an hour), no benefits, and no hope of long-term employment—not exactly the most attractive conditions for trained and licensed educators.>>>>>>>


... or it will bring the teachers to its sweatshop ethos.

"Either you bring the water to L.A, or you bring L.A. to the water." - Noah Cross in CHINATOWN



edit to add: This is a pretty determined bunch, I'll give 'em that. Who knew.... when we elected them.... that they would be THIS determined.

Good god.

K and R
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:26 AM
Response to Reply #23
26. "its sweatshop ethos" = indeed.
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xchrom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:31 AM
Response to Reply #23
28. well said. nt
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leftstreet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 03:55 PM
Response to Reply #23
85. +1
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Reader Rabbit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:30 AM
Response to Original message
27. More proof that ed "reform" is really about the money.
The ed deformers complex saw how the military-industrial complex was doing it, and they wanted to get their chance to a huge chunk of taxpayer-funded profits.

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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:34 AM
Response to Reply #27
29. i can't believe they're running these sweatshops while they simper to the public about "quality"
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blindpig Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:34 AM
Response to Original message
30. Why do you hate Capitalism?
x(
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:33 AM
Response to Reply #30
60. you have to ask?
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blindpig Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 09:04 AM
Response to Reply #60
64. ;>)

It was rhetorical.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 03:35 PM
Response to Reply #64
81. ;>) mine too.
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 03:35 PM by Hannah Bell
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Starry Messenger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:44 AM
Response to Reply #30
62. Ed reform perfectly illustrates these two lines of the CM for me:
The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage labourers.


The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexions everywhere.


Maybe I would have never really understood Marx if it wasn't for this squalid chapter of capitalizing public education. It made things a lot clearer to me...
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blindpig Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 09:01 AM
Response to Reply #62
63. Every time you go back to it....

that document is as fresh as if it had been written yesterday.

It is really worthwhile to review the Manifesto and relate it to our current situation.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 03:42 PM
Response to Reply #62
83. +100.
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TBF Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:36 AM
Response to Original message
31. I would think about the type of test - if it is just checking to make sure the filled-in dots are
correct than it seems most temps with a college degree (or less) could handle that. If we are talking short answer/essay than I would want appropriate folks who are well-trained in their given area of expertise.

But yes this story does point out how ludicrous we are treating education, and it will show in our children. I find it interesting that the same folks who go on about ignorance in this country are the first ones to come into this thread and stick up for standardized testing.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:43 AM
Response to Reply #31
36. Aren't essay-tests mentioned in the article?
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TBF Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:49 AM
Response to Reply #36
38. Yes, this cryptic reference -
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 07:49 AM by TBF
"So for all the months of preparation and the dozens of hours of class time spent writing practice essays, a student’s writing probably will be processed and scored in about a minute."

They don't go into detail about make-up of the tests, but this sentence indicates that there are essay exams at the very least.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:05 AM
Response to Reply #38
48. Not so cryptic bolded in the OP:
the written-response portions of innumerable standardized tests given across the country are scored by human beings
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TBF Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 09:11 AM
Response to Reply #48
67. That sentence is not bolded in the OP -
unless my eyesight is gone. I've read it several times and can't find it. But then I've learned in this thread if I don't parrot the party line exactly I will be screamed at so adios.
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haele Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 03:18 PM
Response to Reply #38
79. The "essay tests" I've seen on recent standardized tests are still multiple choice -
They aren't really essay tests, they're directed more towards reading comprehension and "logical thinking" - and the child doesn't do much writing - he or she spends most of the essay selecting the most appropriate word or paragraph, essay structure, or concept answer on a multiple choice. At the end of the essay section, there might be a requirement to write a sentence or a paragraph.
The only essay writing I've seen children do lately is in homework exercises and the occasional in-class project or test.

Haele
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:56 AM
Response to Reply #31
43. it's the essay portion of the standardized tests.
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 07:56 AM by Hannah Bell
did you read the article?
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TBF Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 09:05 AM
Response to Reply #43
65. No I came up with that quote out of my ass. Yes I read the article. nt
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 03:54 PM
Response to Reply #65
84. "I remember reading, for twenty-three straight days,
the responses of thousands of middle-schoolers to the question, “What is a goal of yours in life?” A plurality devoted several paragraphs to explain that their life’s goal was to talk less in class, listen to their teacher, and stop fooling around so much....

Ironically, scorers are often delighted to see papers that show individuality and speak in their own voice, and often reward them with higher scores, though, judging by the papers I’ve read, it appears as if students often explicitly are told not to be creative...

The papers are also a testament to the persistence of racism, describing teenagers kicked out of stores or denied service or jobs because of the color of their skin...

The companies responsible for scoring standardized tests have not yet figured out a way to electronically process the varied handwriting and creative flourishes of millions of third to twelfth graders... Instead, every year, the written-response portions of innumerable standardized tests given across the country are scored by human beings—tens of thousands of us, a veritable army of temporary workers.

So for all the months of preparation and the dozens of hours of class time spent writing practice essays, a student’s writing probably will be processed and scored in about a minute.



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proud2BlibKansan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:27 AM
Response to Reply #31
59. The bubbled answers are scored by a computer
The scoring in the OP is referring to essay tests.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:44 AM
Response to Original message
37. I'll be brash:
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TBF Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:50 AM
Response to Reply #37
39. Just rec'd your OP as well, and I believe that "destroy the unions"
has been a battlecry for awhile now, and not just republican administrations. Arne Duncan as head of the Dept of Education underscores that desire ...
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Starry Messenger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:55 AM
Response to Original message
41. I'm so glad this is getting WIDER exposure.
Hannah, I started reading about this last year. Get this book: Making The Grades http://www.amazon.com/Making-Grades-Misadventures-Standardized-Industry/dp/098170915X

YOU WILL VOMIT.

I don't know why this issue isn't a front page scandal on every newspaper--oh wait, they are owned by the same companies as the test companies...

These tests are not only scored by very unqualified pieceworkers, the test scores themselves are often tailored down or up depending on pre-ordained score brackets determined by "psychometricians"--a group of people decides that statistically a group of kids should only hit a certain mark, and if the scores don't match that then the test scorers have to go back and change the scores.

IT IS A TREMENDOUS FUCKING SCAM.



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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:09 AM
Response to Reply #41
50. yes, that part got me too. the statistical piece -- the way they're doing it --
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 08:09 AM by Hannah Bell
is complete bullshit.

it's a scam on so many levels it's infuriating. yet it's so multifaceted & so convoluted to explain that if you don't already have some background knowledge you'll be met with blank stares.

it's hard to combat the parrot-like talking points of the deformers.

i can't get over how they spout the corporate bullshit about "quality education" while running low-wage pieceowork sweatshops to grade essays. horrible.
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Starry Messenger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:21 AM
Response to Reply #50
54. It's not just the essays either.
All the exams are scored this way. The tests are written by the companies, scored by the companies, sold by the companies. Farley just wrote a little more about his experiences in this recent article:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/are-common-core-standards-real.html



By Todd S. Farley
If there’s one thing the uber-confident if minimally experienced education reformers can agree on, it’s that this country’s students need “high standards.” The thought is that the high expectations of “high standards” in our schools will allow the United States to overcome any educational deficiencies we face (even the huge hurdle of our terrible teachers). This clamoring to raise the bar for our students is how we ended up with the revolutionary Common Core Standards, those academic benchmarks the reformers hope will lead us back to an educational promised land (also known as “Finland”).

<snip>

For instance, the following multiple-choice question (written to a passage about feuding neighbors) is aligned to the Common Core Standards:

With which universal idea does this passage mostly deal?
E) the importance of overcoming grudges
F) the continued strength of the human spirit
G) the rebirth that happens each spring
H) the redemptive abilities of hard work

The specific Common Core Standard that item is aligned to identifies it as a “Literature” question focused on “Key Ideas and Details” that specifically can show whether or not a student is able to “Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.”

Heady talk indeed, all those impressive words summarizing up that short, little question.

In any case, that item is being sold as one aligned to the Common Core Standards, part of the new wave of new assessments that will shake this country’s schools right to the foundation. Or not, if you consider that same, exact question is also being sold for use on myriad other state tests.




Every time there is a "new test", someone is getting paid. A lot. That "quality education" is like New Coke©. Branding and nothing more. Education reform is cash on the barrel head.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:26 AM
Response to Reply #54
57. "That "quality education" is like New Coke©. "
yes. the whole thing = business model through & through. every facet.

including the sweatshop hidden in the background.
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Starry Messenger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 06:23 PM
Response to Reply #54
88. kick
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Generic Other Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 08:40 AM
Response to Original message
61. Pathetic!
Clearly unqualified people decide if qualified educators have done their job in high stakes testing whose results are meaningless and arbitrary.
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lonestarnot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 09:08 AM
Response to Original message
66. So go there with a hang-over and just bubble in shit?
That's what I did and graduated from college summa cum laude. :) Fuck the testers!
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WhiteTara Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 09:12 AM
Response to Original message
68. now we have another real reason for the testing
model...income for giant corps...again.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 09:14 AM
Response to Reply #68
70. FOLLOW THE MONEY. It was true in 1974; it is true today, in spades.
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Joe Fields Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 10:16 AM
Response to Original message
74. not much different than the many teachers who have students grade papers.
Edited on Mon Jan-24-11 10:18 AM by Joe Fields


Which, I may add, that in either case is wrong. I would like to know why these standardized tests aren't graded by the teachers who give them.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 03:55 PM
Response to Reply #74
86. where is this that students grade papers? you mean teaching assistants in universities?
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progressoid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 12:41 PM
Response to Original message
75. Woohoo! We're racin' to the top!!11!
:banghead:
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abbiehoff Donating Member (356 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 02:18 PM
Response to Original message
76. It's not so much who is doing the scoring ---
it's that the criteria can change from day to day; even hour to hour.

My late husband did this scoring for a while after he lost his regular job. He had several degrees and was really quite bright. The problem was that the leaders changed the process depending upon the scores they were getting. Many of the student responses to a prompt were scored as 0 to 4 points. A point would be given for specific words that were mentioned. It could be clear that the student knew what he was talking about, but if he didn't use the approved word, he did not get the point attributable to the designated word. If too many students were failing, the rules would change, and more words, words that had been unacceptable the day before, were given the point. A paper that got a '2' on Tuesday might have gotten a '3' on Thursday if the student had been lucky enough to have his paper show up late in the process.
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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 04:01 PM
Response to Reply #76
87. I'm sure many of the scorers are quite bright. obviously the author is as well.
it's that the qualification is a BA in anything, not how "bright" one is;

it's that the work is temp work, performed under factory conditions, with minimal training and no connection to the bigger picture;

it's that the pay & benefits are on par with fast food work;

it's that, as you say, the scoring is adjusted to fit pre-determined metrics;

it's that kids' & teachers' futures are determined on the basis of these scores.



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maryf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 07:49 PM
Response to Reply #87
91. and how many of these people know what a rubric is?
and how to judge if it's a good one?
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DirkGently Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 02:28 PM
Response to Original message
77. Countdown until Education, Inc. outsources grading to India.
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yurbud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 02:38 PM
Response to Original message
78. Any politician who supports this agenda is corrupt: it is selling our kids like meat to
these scammers who will make a profit by giving the least product for the most money.
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Initech Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 03:21 PM
Response to Original message
80. Every day more and more I'm beginning to see why the Bolsheviks revolted.
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defendandprotect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-24-11 10:39 PM
Response to Original message
92. K/R
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LWolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-26-11 09:11 AM
Response to Original message
93. This needs to be heard, repeatedly, by the general public.
Thank you for bringing it to a larger audience here, Hannah.

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DebJ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-26-11 09:14 AM
Response to Original message
94. OMG I wish everyone knew this. n/t
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