Measure of College & Career Readiness; Spelling Test vs. NYS ELA/Math Test

Despite the claims of reformers and the companies that pay them, no single test is a measure of college and career readiness. NYS wants to believe the Common Core ELA & Math tests are those measures, but that is simply not the case. In fact, weekly classroom spelling tests are by far a better measure of college and career readiness than the NYS ELA & Math tests.

There is nothing rigorous about a spelling test, provided of course you put the work in and studied. In a spelling test, you are graded on how well you prepare. You are graded on your work ethic. You are graded on the attention you give to a task that you are expected to complete. On the NYS Math & ELA tests, no matter how hard a student works, they are still predetermined to fail. Last year, before a single student took the NYS ELA & Math test it was announced that 70% would fail. Weekly spelling tests make no such guarantee.

There are no tricks on a spelling test. As is the case in college and career readiness, you get exactly what you put in. Not the case with NYS tests. As per NYS Common Core ELA & Math test guide, “students will need to make hard choices between fully correct and plausible but incorrect.”

In a spelling test, students are tested on what they have learned. There is no guarantee that is the case with NYS Common Core ELA & Math tests. Most are under the second year of Common Core instruction and the tests assume mastery of all previous skills taught. The content of the tests seems to escape the grade level on every page. NYS claims this is because the test uses “authentic” materials. Can’t they find “authentic” materials on grade level? Perhaps they should ask a teacher how it is done?

Spelling tests provide instantaneous feedback and cause minimal disruption. They take 5 minutes to administer, 10 minutes to grade, 10 minutes to analyze, and 10 minutes start formulating a plan to adjust future instruction. NYS Common Core ELA & Math tests take more than 1,000 minutes to administer and 6 months to get back. Students are reduced to a number (1,2,3,4) and there is absolutely no item analysis. Opportunities to adjust instruction to meet needs or challenge strengths are lost since the students are in a new grade and being taught new standards.

The spelling test is not only a measure of work ethic, but it tests the most critical skill the multibillion-dollar tests of college and career readiness leave out- listening.

Spelling tests drive instruction. NYS Common Core ELA & Math drive a corporate reform agenda scheduled to privatize schools in the name of profit.

Lace to the Top– as one…

Twitter: @lacetothetop

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Pearson’s Connection to the Ad Placement on NYS ELA

Here is an article claiming Pearson has no affiliation with companies on their NYS ELA tests:

http://news.msn.com/us/brand-names-in-ny-standardized-tests-vex-parents

 

Thanks to BAT & mom Sara Wottawa, we have come to realize Pearson has direct and indirect ties to all companies mention on their NYS ELA test.

 

Pearson’s connection to Barbie is simple- Barbie’s pricier cousin, American Girl Doll, comes with a Pearson textbook:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2013/05/what_do_american_girl_dolls_and_pearson_have_in_common.html

 

And furthermore, the head of the Mattel Board sold his former company to Pearson: http://investor.shareholder.com/mattel/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-13-126344&CIK=63276

 

Pearson makes the exams for all Apple employees:

http://www.pearsonvue.com/apple/

 

Pepsico’s (Mug Root Beer) Board of Director Pearson’s CFO for 12 years:

http://www.pepsico.com/Investors/PressRelease/PepsiCo-Elects-Rona-Fairhead-To-Companys-Board-Of-Directors02072014.html

 

And Lego wants ELA scores to rise and uses Pearson to peddle their nonsense

http://labs.pearson.com/perc_55316/

 

Nike has ties to Microsoft and Bill Gates:

http://labs.pearson.com/perc_97992/

 

Nike has also been used in other Pearson materials:

http://wps.pearsoncustom.com/pcp_collins_explorebus_1/68/17646/4517517.cw/content/index.html

 

I’m sorry NYSED, what were you saying about product placement?

 

Lace to the Top on Facebook and Twitter.  We don’t place products, we save children and their education!

 

 

 

 

Someplace Better

A thug gave a teacher a teary-eyed hug a few days ago. The hug made the thug a child and saved education from losing a heroic teacher.

The thug was a nightmare in the teacher’s classroom from the first day in September; violent, confrontational, angry, abusive, and defiant.

The teacher stayed professional; prepared, motivated, charismatic, dedicated, and passionate.

As the weeks passed, the teacher’s initial passion was exhausted trying to engage the thug who disrupted the 34 other students in the room from their academic assignments. The nightmare destroyed the teacher in soul-crushing, incremental degrees until the teacher’s spirit was all but dead. A parent teacher meeting was called when the thug’s behavior became dangerous.

“You are worthless,” the dad said to the thug at a parent teacher meeting. The thug’s lip quivered and the teacher’s eyes welled with tears. The meeting ended and the thug left with the parent, but the teacher stayed in the principal’s office with his head in his hands sobbing. He was inconsolable.

Outside the principal’s office, the parent and the thug waited for the teacher. Apologies were shared. A civil handshake was given to the parent. The teacher extended his hand to the thug and the thug clutched the teacher and hugged his hero. The hero hugged a child.

A short time later, this child’s home was on the news and the real nightmare was exposed. The classroom was where child cried for help. The classroom was where the child cried for love. The hero gave both.

The teacher and the thug helped each other with an act of love. The child learned the meaning of compassion from the teacher. What the hero got from the child was a career-saving reminder that teaching is not his job; it is his purpose. And his purpose is to meet the child where he is and take him someplace better.

The story is not over and one can hope it will continue to get better.