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TexasTowelie

(111,315 posts)
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 11:16 PM Aug 2016

A majority of Maryland students fall short, again, on state Common Core tests

A majority of Maryland’s students failed to meet academic benchmarks on state standardized tests linked to the Common Core this year, a disappointing result for educators and state officials who had hoped to see major upticks as teachers and students become familiar with the exams.

New data released this week showed that many grade levels saw overall passing rates of about 40 percent in the second year of testing using PARCC exams, which are intended to measure readiness for college and careers. Maryland students in grades three through eight showed gains in math, but English scores remained flat.

“We’re sure not seeing a heck of a rise on these results,” said Chester E. Finn Jr., a member of the Maryland State Board of Education and president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. “Forty percent is nowhere near good enough, and the gains, where there are some, are small.”

State data showed that most grade levels saw improvement in math, with proficiency inching up nearly three points in seventh grade and almost eight points in third grade. Third-graders did best, with 44 percent meeting or exceeding expectations, and eighth-graders lagged, with just 22 percent meeting or exceeding expectations. There was little change in English scores in third through eighth grades, with 37 to 40 percent of students reaching performance targets.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/a-majority-of-maryland-students-fall-short-again-on-state-common-core-tests/2016/08/24/4211e0bc-69a4-11e6-99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html

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A majority of Maryland students fall short, again, on state Common Core tests (Original Post) TexasTowelie Aug 2016 OP
Do we have any clue how good or accurate those tests might be? PoindexterOglethorpe Aug 2016 #1
I suspect that the accuracy of the tests have not been verified. TexasTowelie Aug 2016 #2
That's what I suspect. PoindexterOglethorpe Aug 2016 #3
We took the Regents Exams in NYState, annually, high school, elleng Aug 2016 #4
The Regents exams have been around PoindexterOglethorpe Aug 2016 #5

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
1. Do we have any clue how good or accurate those tests might be?
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 11:19 PM
Aug 2016

Have they undergone the sort of rigorous testing and verifying that would actually be needed to know they assess what they claim to assess? Aren't these companies all in it for the money?

What do the long established benchmarks tell us? Things like the ACT, the SAT, the AP exams? If our students are so stupid, why is it so incredibly difficult to get in to any of the top universities? Am I the only person who sees a real disconnect here?

I simply find if a bit difficult to believe that the majority of students in this country are so terrible.

TexasTowelie

(111,315 posts)
2. I suspect that the accuracy of the tests have not been verified.
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 11:50 PM
Aug 2016

As they have shown in other standardized tests there are injections of ethnic and racial bias present that lead to misleading results.

What can be gathered from the testing results though is that more money needs to be spent so that the students will pass the test and more money will need to be spent on more frequent testing. Then the pats on the back will occur a few years from now when they compare the improved performance to the test results in 2016.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
3. That's what I suspect.
Thu Aug 25, 2016, 01:09 AM
Aug 2016

Plus, there have been various stories about the idiocy and inaccuracy of some of the tests. It seems as though the companies just devised the tests, assumed they were good, and put them out there.

I recall from a college psychology class something (I've forgotten the details) about how incredibly important it is to make sure your tests are good and test what you want them to test. There are two specific words that apply, and I cannot for the life of me remember them.

But at least part of what should be done is to devise the tests, administer them, make no assumptions about the validity, and then see down the road if they measure what you wanted them to measure. You simply cannot devise a good test in a very short time.

When I was in grade school and junior high, I lived in New York State, and at the time we took what were called Achievement Tests each year. I think the correct name is something like the Iowa tests of basic skills. In any case, they'd been around for a long time at that point, and I know from what I've read after, that each year there would be test questions embedded which would be used in future tests if they turned out to be valid in terms of assessing what was needed to be assessed.

Ever since this bullshit high stakes testing has popped up, I simply cannot understand why the older, long standing, good tests, have not simply been used. It's nonsense to suggest that students in one state are learning such different stuff than students in another that those tests won't work. Yes, different states and different school districts teach different things (which is a huge problem and another discussion entirely) but the basics of literacy and math are not that different. And if the Iowa test of basic skills shows that students in one state (or school district) consistently test at a lower level than students in another state (or school district) then perhaps those states (and school districts) need to re-think their curriculum.

I do understand that there can be profound differences because of things like race or socioeconomic conditions, but it would actually be quite useful to learn that third graders in one state are comparable to second graders in another state, or fourth graders in yet another one.

The underlying idea behind Common Core is a good one, but it seems to me as if it's been implemented rather badly.

elleng

(130,156 posts)
4. We took the Regents Exams in NYState, annually, high school,
Thu Aug 25, 2016, 01:40 AM
Aug 2016

to judge our achievement in ?English/Math/History. I was among the only students who HAD 'finals,' when I discussed 'final exams,' in college, a State university in Ohio. (1962.)

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,750 posts)
5. The Regents exams have been around
Thu Aug 25, 2016, 02:45 AM
Aug 2016

for a very long time, and are probably beyond valid.

Although I am disturbed that other high school students hadn't had final exams in high school.

I'm a bit younger than you, and we had mid terms and finals, as did my sons, born while I was in my 30's.

What we didn't have were truly comprehensive finals. Ours only covered the semester, not the entire year. Once I was in college, finals were sometimes comprehensive, meaning the entire semester (since all courses were only semester long), but often just the last exam of the semester.

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