Author |
Message |
Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 3:26 pm
And the results are pretty comprehensive and actually easy to understand. (Well except for me understanding how a kid who was so bad in reading that he got extra help ended up with a super high score--like in a top percentage range.)
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Rissa
Member
03-20-2006
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 4:06 pm
Doesn't seem fair to me. It's a standardized test to see how well the school is doing in comparision to other schools in the district/province/state. The grade is a reflection on the teacher, not the student so why make the student feel like crap if the teacher fails? Make sense? Glad we do it the way we do.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 4:47 pm
Sorry, Rissa, but I have to disagree. The best teacher in the world can't learn for a student. We can teach the same concept thirty ways of Sunday, but it's ultimately up to the kid to use the information and store it away. Standardized testing is NOT an accurate reflection of either the teachers or the students - but since all federal and state funding is connected to it, we have to comply. Yes, tests are compared amongst school districts, but how is it fair that my kids - in a county with an 18% unemployment rate, a 25% alcoholism rate, 30% of our students are second language learners and 50% of the kids on free-reduced lunch are compared as "equals" with the school 30 minutes south of us who has only a 7% unemployment rate, barely 5% of the kids who are second language learners, and under 10% on free/reduced lunch. The state tests ALL students - and when our kids are worrying about losing their house, they certainly aren't doing well on a standardized test. This is obviously a "soap box" issue of mine - after 17 years of teaching, I firmly believe there are about a million and one BETTER ways of assessing a student's achievement as well as a teacher's effectiveness.
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Chewpito
Member
01-04-2004
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 4:57 pm
Teach, for the very reason you stated I dont believe that merit pay is fair eather....How can even the very best teacher shine when every district is un-equal....Im not a teacher but Ive been watching this topic here in Ca. What are your thoughts on this???
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Rissa
Member
03-20-2006
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 5:09 pm
Teach, I don't have an issue with anything you said! I was just commenting on the students feeling they need to cram for these tests and feeling guilty about the results when this type of test is a reflection on the school/teacher. Whatever the reason for the class/school's standing in the community is a whole other discussion.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 5:44 pm
The problem in our area is that the kids learn eventually that the standardized tests don't actually count toward grades or anything. So they "Christmas tree" them as far as they can, and blow through the other stuff. In other words, they don't try at all. So, it looks like we are doing more poorly than we are in our district. Recently, some of the members of the school board figured they'd "show those kids" and put the CSAP scores on their transcripts. Luckily our new superintendent nixed that idea. I don't know what the answer is. Seems like you have two extremes - the younger kids are stressed out and the older kids don't give a rat's behind.
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Chewpito
Member
01-04-2004
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 5:50 pm
A diferant discussion...But a intresting one..I have lot of teacher friend's and hear what they are up against... My daughter is long out of school but still our schools provide so many things to us, that our teachers are worth there weight in gold..
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 6:16 pm
Teach, your school sounds like ours except add the learning disabled into the mix. They add their scores in with the other scores, even though those kids learn and are taught at a different level. I have learned so much about public school this year, it is really eye opening. War, we also got the letters to make them hot breakfast and good dinner. I prepared the french toast batter and omlette mix the night before and Bill fixed it up in the morning. Dylan had to get up earlier but he said if he was getting french toast he didnt mind! LOL (ps War, the last lanyards you did were outstanding! you are getting 2 pkgs from me)
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Beckie03
Member
07-05-2007
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 8:44 pm
teach, you scare me with your teaching stories. makes me not want to enter the credential program.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 9:19 pm
2 packages, Pamy? I got 1 today and sent you an email (part of which might make no sense if there's a second package coming, lol.) Like I said, I think teachers are as stressed as the kids (if not more so) cuz they have to do their thing and then sit back and watch the kids take the tests. I've never talked to a teacher who hasn't shared my opinion of the testing. I think if they had to close cuz of swine flu, they'd just reschedule the testing for later in the year. Dakota told me today they're working the custodial staff overtime though, they're going in after school and scrubbing down every surface they can. Said her class smelled so bad this morning they had to leave the doors open. LOL, I did offer to make the kids pancakes (cook them up ahead of time and freeze them so they can heat them up in the morning) and hardboiled eggs and they said no thanks. They'll eat their oatmeal, fruit, and toast. Also told them I could drop them off a few minutes early and they could eat at school and all I got was gagging noises, lol.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 9:52 pm
I just typed a funny, albeit a bit long, story and the @(*&*^!&*#()*&@#&^$&#*^&*@##$**&^@@ internet explorer closed, again!
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Beekindpleez
Member
07-18-2006
| Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - 11:15 pm
That happened to me the other night, Sugar. I had just typed up the whole of what happened at Survivor Ponderosa with Tyson. @(*&*^!&*#()*&@#&^$&#*^&*@##$**&^@@ says it all!! LOL
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - 9:57 am
Mozilla Firefox is an excellent web browser ... It is just like Internet Explorer but less buggy.
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - 10:02 am
War, do you get up when your kids get up for school? My mom never did. We got up, got ourselves ready, made sure littler ones were ready, then hit the bus stop and ate at school. Looking back, I would have loved to have her wake me up, fix my breakfast and take me to school. She didn't work, just didn't want to get up early. Next year I really kinda look forward to getting up with my kids, eating with them in the morning then taking them to school. If it costs me a few minutes of sleep, I think it's worth it, IMO. DH can clean up our breakfast mess before he goes to work, lol.
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - 12:09 pm
The best years of my life were driving my DD back and forth to school. Such wonderful memories were made during that time together in the car.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - 12:32 pm
Depends on the day, Escapee. Caleb's an early riser like his dad, up at 5:30 most mornings and Dakota an hour or so later (she's more likely to sleep til 7-7:30 though.) Caleb likes to get up and take his time...shower, eat, he does his reading early in the morning and often practicing his guitar because the house is quiet. If Dakota's up early it's cuz she needs to finish homework or study for tests. Neither kid is a big eater early in the morning, which is why I never cook breakfast on school days...they won't eat it. They will eat a couple pancakes when it's cold outside or a bowl of oatmeal/cereal, but usually they only eat about half and pack a snack for later in the morning. I typically get up around 7-7:30, talk to Caleb about what he read so I can sign his reading log, check over Kota's homework or quiz her for her tests, go over what our afternoon is going to be like (for example, today was, "Kota you have a game at 5, so warm ups at 4, if you have homework try to finish it in class.") We have to leave the house by 8:15 to get to school on time.
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Denecee
Member
09-05-2002
| Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - 1:40 pm
Wargod, you are such a good mommy!
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - 10:16 pm
Whoops, Pamy - I forgot that "population" in the standardized tests. We have 3 full-time spec. ed. teachers for a building of only 500 kids - and their classes are packed. My best friend has 10 "mainstreamed" kids in a class of 35 - along with 12 ESL kids. She's had to revamp her entire curriculum to try to make sure they can understand it! Part of Michigan's "standardized" testing is the ACT - and EVERY kid has to take it. Since when did a college entrance exam become "required" for all kids??
Rissa - I think some of the stress for kids (at the HS level) also comes from the fact that colleges look at these scores for admission, and at the elem. level some schools are using them to assess student's progress for future classes. It's a crappy process all the way around, but until I can morph into Queen of the Universe, we're kind of stuck with it b/c it's the law. My DH is the resident breakfast cook - DS loves pancakes or waffles for breakfast, but he'll usually "settle" for toast and fruit when we have to leave early for jazz band (4 out of 5 mornings a week). DS definitely milks the "warm breakfast" idea on test days! 
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - 11:06 pm
That's how our jr high looks at the test scores, Teach. They determine if the kids will have electives the following school year or will have to take a math or language arts supplemental class. Caleb's had math supplemental this year (his test scores were actually pretty high, it was the difficulty he had in math class last year that got him in supplemental this year) and I don't really think it's been bad, he needed the extra help in math this year. Dakota will most likely have LA supplemental and again, I don't think it's a bad thing, despite the progress she has made this year, she's still behind and it'll be helpful. But, for the kids, it's very upsetting and Kota's been worried about it for a while. We're done with two days of testing, four to go. We did recieve a phone call from the school tonight saying that if you're kids are sick, please, please keep them home even though it is testing week. They don't want to take chances with swine flu. However, they still plan to reward the classes that have full attendance with a party so it's don't come if you are sick but if you don't your class misses out.
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Rissa
Member
03-20-2006
| Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 4:19 am
Teach.. I will keep my fingers crossed for a big vat of radio-active goo in your future. 
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 5:01 am
I appreciate their are flaws in the system, but if it results in a child being tutored more or receiving extra instruction, how is that bad?
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Karen
Member
09-06-2004
| Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 2:04 pm
Mozilla Firefox is an excellent web browser ... It is just like Internet Explorer but less buggy. LOL @ "less buggy". That's a very polite way of saying it. I work for a web dev agency and IE is the bane of my existence. Clients who use IE6 drive me especially crazy. Get Mozilla Firefox
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 2:34 pm
Mozilla Firefox seems to take forever to load. It is what my husband uses so he had no sympathy for my IE woes. He is a software developer and is occasionally annoyed by my lack of computer knowledge but is usually helpful. I do hate the "I'll teach you to fish..." instead of him just doing it for me sometimes.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 2:37 pm
Firefox works great here. Sugar, follow Kar's steps above somewhere (might be in the apple thread) and clean up your firefox. Bet it works better then.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, April 30, 2009 - 7:22 pm
LOL @ Rissa - I've been looking HARD this year, and I just can't find it!  
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