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The Age of Instagramis creating headaches for the state Department of Education and ETS, the contractor for the state’s standardized tests. At least 100 students from 34 school districts had posted images on social media of materials from various state tests they took, according to Paul Hefner, spokesman for Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torakson.
via Click and post: CST security breach – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.
Donna Lawson, Vallejo
The March 11 Times-Herald editorial (“Good time to ‘get on board’: Invite criticism”) was quite insightful. Vallejo City Unified School District Superintendent Ramona Bishop seems to unfairly target and blame teachers who speak out about student disruptions in the classroom and violence on school campuses.
via Time to get serious about the issues facing our Vallejo schools.
This year may finally be the time to get a major overhaul in education – simpler, fairer, more flexible and accountable.
By Peter Schrag
Most of us have long known that in places like Oakland and Berkeley, and probably in a lot of other cities as well, the easiest way to predict a school’s test scores is by the altitude of the building.
The higher up the school, the more likely it will be in an affluent neighborhood. The schools in the flats, where the poor people live would almost inevitably have lower scores.
FAIRFIELD — Mark Roberts will be removed as principal at Fairfield High School at the end of the school year, a move an official said was in part due to the school’s low state test scores.
via Roberts out as Fairfield High principal; will stay to June 30.
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Next year, school districts will receive the students’ results on state standardized tests in two weeks, not two months – or longer.
via CST results back in a jiffy – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.
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Rebuffed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is back with another academic accountability bill, this time giving the governor lots of latitude to help redefine how to measure schools’ performance. SB 1458 needs to be vague, because, at this point, no one but Brown professes to know what he has in mind.
via Steinberg back with API alternative – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.
Vallejo City Unified School District officials hope a parent forum next month will clear up some mysteries.”I was getting lots of questions from our parents about our goals — questions like, ‘What are the A-G requirements?’ and ‘How can I help my child do better on the STAR (Standardized Testing and Reporting) tests that are coming?’ ” Superintendent Ramona Bishop said.
via Vallejo school officials extend an invitation to parent forum.
By Louis Freedberg ~ EdSource Extra
After his last legislative effort on the subject was brusquely rejected by Governor Jerry Brown, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, is making another effort to reform California’s dozen-year-old method of ranking its public schools.
via Steinberg introduces new proposal for reforming school rating system.
There is a saying that American students are the most tested and the least examined of any in the world. Nowhere is that more true than in California, where students take 35 tests before they hit the SAT and AP exams.
via Viewpoints: For California schools, we need less testing and more assessing.
Want to make a public school teacher cringe? Say the words high-stakes testing.
Tests, test and more tests.
Teachers unions rail against them. Parents complain about the time their kids spend taking them. Academics disagree over their value.
via Jerry Brown’s call for fewer school tests conflicts with state’s new education ….
The Educated Guess
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Gov. Jerry Brown picked up on a common complaint of teachers, superintendents, and parents in his State of the State address last week: Schools have closed for the summer by the time they get the scores of standardized tests that students took the previous spring. At that point, the results are a lot less useful.
via Brown wants quicker results, fewer tests – by John Fensterwald – Educated Guess.
The Educated Guess
California Watch: K–12
While California’s math and reading scores have improved slightly in recent years, they still rank near the bottom on a national test, according to a report released this week.
According to the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which tested fourth- and eighth-graders, state reading and math scores were higher than the state’s 2007 results, but statistically unchanged from the last test in 2009.