Entire documentary of Langley School Music Project on YouTube
I had no idea about this, thanks for posting BoingBoing. I’m watching it!!
@Unitedoptout responds line by line to the scare tactics of the IDOE regarding #HST
Here it is, a rebuttal to the Indiana DOE threatening arrest for parents who may keep their children home from testing. Actually, they need only keep their children home for math or reading, not necessarily both. So, there you have it.
Scare tactics from the #IDOE on an #optout of #HST
Check out this strongly worded memo sent out by the Indiana DOE on the recent inquiries made by parents on opting out of tests. They got some nerve issuing a threat to charge parents with misdemeanors if their children are absent. It’s not that they’re absent, but those specific days they’re absent, yes? And I hardly think that the tests have ultimately been determined without a shadow of a doubt that they are “valid” measures of student progress. Well, I’d like to see them actually arrest parents.
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Indiana Superintendents and Principals
FROM: Wes Bruce, Chief Assessment Officer
Matt Voors, General Counsel
DATE: January 25, 2011
TOPIC: Assessment Opt Out Guidance
In recent weeks, we have had several inquiries from schools and corporations about parents who have requested—or in some cases demanded—to opt out their students from participating in state assessments (ISTEP+, IMAST, IREAD-3, ECAs, LAS Links) . There are several social media sites that are promoting the idea of opting out in Indiana. These sites imply that parents may opt out their children from state testing. Indiana law has no such provision.
The following are points you may want to discuss with parents considering opting out their students:
- Test scores provide a valid measure of how well students have mastered grade level standards.
- ISTEP+ test scores allow us to estimate how much students have grown each school year by comparing the achievement patterns of students with very similar patterns of content mastery.
- At the high school level, opting out denies students the opportunities guaranteed to them by law to demonstrate the needed mastery of Algebra I and/or English 10 required to earn a high school diploma.
Below you will find our policy on the topic of opting out of state assessments, as well as important reminders for parents and for schools.
Indiana Standardized Testing Policy Regarding Opt-out and Absences
Unless a student falls within the very narrow exemptions for homebound instruction and/or medical necessity, Ind. Code 20-32-2 provides that all students enrolled in an Indiana-accredited school are required to participate in state assessments. Indiana does not have an opt-out policy. If a student is absent on the scheduled testing days but attends school on any other days in the test window, the school shall test the student as a “make up.”
Parent Reminders
Parents should be reminded of Indiana’s Compulsory School Attendance Laws, Ind. Code 20-33-2. Specifically, section 28 of the compulsory school attendance chapter provides that it is unlawful for a parent to fail, neglect, or refuse to send the parent’s child to school for the full term, and section 27 of the statute provides that it is unlawful for a parent to fail to ensure that his/her student attends school as required under the compulsory school attendance chapter and establishes the process of initiating an action against a parent for violation. Finally, section 44 provides that violation of the compulsory school attendance chapter is a Class B Misdemeanor. Any absence by a student on scheduled testing dates for the purpose of avoiding testing constitutes an unexcused absence and may constitute a violation of the compulsory school attendance laws.
School Reminders
Schools should be mindful that student participation in state assessments is part of the calculation for A-F category designations. Moreover, lack of participation by any subgroup may have particular negative consequences for accountability calculations.
For additional information, please contact the Office of Assessment at 317-232-2050.
#Education #reform pronunciation guide to help you with very difficult terminologies
#Test #teacher, test teacher, we know how to, uh, show it?
I’m in a coffee shop, no headphones, so I can’t listen to the video. But based on the words, and when watching the lyrics scroll, I imagined the Bee Gee’s Night Fever. Is that the music in it, did I get it right? In any case, interesting message, right on brother.
The #SOTU and #education hints at quite a bit missing
Education Week reports on the State of the Union and what it had to say about education.
“Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let’s offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones,” he said. “In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren’t helping kids learn. That’s a bargain worth making.”
Fantastic, but let’s talk about teaching to that damn test. The prevailing measure right now to measure teacher quality, to keep good teachers on the job, are test scores, value added models. That’s the tool being touted at the expense of any other. If your livelihood depends on test scores, how can you then make the plea to not teach to the test? Strange.
And where the hell was Race to the Top?
Guns in #elementary #schools for CO, via @tpjustice
Some legislators in CO want to lift the ban on guns in elementary schools, presumably to, what, increase safety via show of force, something like that?
A proposal running simultaneously in the House and Senate would allow concealed weapons on school grounds and college campuses if a person has a permit and another bill would let business owners and employees use deadly force against intruders. Both proposals have previously failed, including last year when Senate Democrats rejected the concealed weapons bill.
So, let me get this straight. You allow concealed weapons on school grounds. Well, they’re concealed. Conceivably, you wouldn’t know who’s packing. All right, all right. I guess you’re really thinking about teachers and college professors packing? Fair enough. But unless you’re constantly asking for permits, what’s the point? I mean, proponents say that bad people doing bad things will bring firearms, so we might as well allow the good guys to do so. Well, how do I know who’s good or bad? I see a guy walking across campus and catch a glimpse of a firearm, what am I going to do, walk up to him and ask him for his permit? Am I going to shoot him, then look for a permit? You see, if firearms were illegal on a college campus, or a school, I would know that firearm has no place and call for help.
Am I thinking about this the wrong way, that this whole issue is incredibly stupid? I had a kid steal my cell phone right off my desk one year, could you imagine if firearms were in schools?
The ignorance and stupidity of #teaparty zealots show once again, this time in #Tennessee on #history #education
This is funny. Again, the right wing meme that it was for the good of all the white people that blacks owe their freedom. As a result, they wish to eradicate mention of slavery in educational materials in Tennessee.
The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.
Political affiliation notwithstanding, this is just really stupid. I had a chat with a conservative friend related to slavery, and he went off on how the white folks should be given more credit. If not for the brave white abolitionists, then there’d still be slavery. If not for all the white boys who fought and died during the civil war, then blacks would still be enslaved. Therefore, they claim that we should diminish the racism and slavery perpetrated by the Founding members because it was merely the acceptable social context of the time. What were they to do, poor fellows? Well, if you’re wrapping up a Revolution and writing an entirely new Constitution, perhaps you could reinvent the wheel a little bit. Is that not the perfect example of reinventing the wheel? If you’re uncomfortable with slavery, or whatever else, and you’re writing a new government, maybe you could, you know, take that as a mandate to, you know, abolish the slave trade. Huh.
Just a few things on #ALEC and #edreform to continue your day, enjoy
On ALEC setting the education agenda, make sure you know about this organization.
A teacher’s story about why they’re leaving public education.
On #NCLB as a #zombie, as transcribed for me by a friend
On our show At the Chalk Face, Tim Slekar and I discussed NCLB as a zombie reform. Not our idea. But here’s a snippet of that conversation. Wow, reading it, very weird:
I know a thing or two about zombies. The old zombies were slow, the new zombies are jacked and fast and powerful. So one of the things that we could discuss is, what kind of zombie is No Child Left Behind? Is it this old school, slow lumbering zombie that relied mostly on its vast numbers? The zombies were slow, they were weak, you could push them out of the way, maybe poke them with a spoon or something like that. But, nowadays the zombies run really fast, they’re like super strong. They can jump and do all sorts of things. They seem like they have a little bit more menace and thought to what they’re doing. So maybe, in a way, like the zombie, No Child Left Behind is gonna ultimately evolve as well. Where at the beginning it was this general ethos of punishment and competition early on but now since we’re getting you know Pearson and Gates and Broad and all these other foundations pumping money into NCLB inspired mandates maybe we’re gonna see a faster stronger and more vicious infection over time.
Yup, horror movie buff turned education commentator. See how these things all seem to come together in the end?
