This bill, by Senator Milkovich which will be debated in the Senate Education Committee this week, would allow each school system to opt out of the state content standards and accountability tests and to choose their own set of content standards for the students in their district. The process would allow the parents of each school district, when a petition is signed by at least 10% of the voters to hold an election to choose the academic standards and tests that would apply to their students.
Senate Bill 128 will be heard at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, April 17 in the Hainkel committee room. Any interested citizen is allowed to attend and comment on the legislation.
The present Louisiana content standards and state LEAP and End of Course tests are based primarily on the Common Core standards. These standards were never tested by using field trials or any other means before they were adopted by BESE. The Common Core standards were a set of academic mandates for ELA and math for each grade that were arbitrarily written by a set of self appointed academic elites mostly representing testing companies and other college related persons. A huge campaign financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and the Federal government got many states such as Louisiana to adopt the standards and their accompanying tests sight unseen.
The Common Core standards are not appropriate for our students and have resulted in a decline in academic achievement and readiness of our students for life and careers. Louisiana has now dropped to its lowest achievement ranking ever compared to other states.
Please read the following posts, here, here, and here, on the Louisiana Educator blog that give you all the data you need to determine that the common core standards are not appropriate or effective as the best curriculum for our students. You will also see how state education officials have watered down promotion standards and basically abandoned all academic requirements in an effort to justify the use of these ineffective standards and tests.
Please consider attending this hearing and voice your support for Senate Bill 128!
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
A National Study Confirms Our Worst Fears About Our School Standards and Tests
In my opinion, the Common Core based tests such as the Louisiana LEAP tests and our high school end of course tests (EOC) are just not valid for any purpose, and I now have data to back that up. Right now the LEAP and EOC tests are used for measuring the achievement levels of our students, the effectiveness of our teachers and the ratings of our schools. The evidence is building that our tests are not good for any of those purposes.
My most recent post on this blog describes how the State Department of Education has lowered the standard for passing LEAP and EOC to appallingly low levels. This was done primarily to show false progress in improving student achievement in ELA and math. My post showed that this so called progress is contradicted by the NAEP tests. But it was also done because the tests are much too difficult for our students. Now a study just released by NEPE (The National Education Policy Center) provides more than adequate cause why these tests should be trashed before they do more damage.
The NEPE study titled "A Consumer’s Guide to Testing under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): What Can the Common Core and Other ESSA Assessments Tell Us?" is a long technical report that would be extremely difficult for any lay person to comprehend. In addition, it was obviously written in such a way as to avoid offending the powers that keep our school systems chained to the Common Core standards. But buried in the report are some shocking findings, if you look hard enough to find them.
The most shocking finding of the NEPE report is not to be found in the summary of the findings even though it should have been included as one of the most significant concerns. This finding is about the validity of the PARCC tests upon which at least 90% of our Louisiana tests are based and it is just casually mentioned on page 44 of the 60 page report. It reads as follows:
My most recent post on this blog describes how the State Department of Education has lowered the standard for passing LEAP and EOC to appallingly low levels. This was done primarily to show false progress in improving student achievement in ELA and math. My post showed that this so called progress is contradicted by the NAEP tests. But it was also done because the tests are much too difficult for our students. Now a study just released by NEPE (The National Education Policy Center) provides more than adequate cause why these tests should be trashed before they do more damage.
The NEPE study titled "A Consumer’s Guide to Testing under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): What Can the Common Core and Other ESSA Assessments Tell Us?" is a long technical report that would be extremely difficult for any lay person to comprehend. In addition, it was obviously written in such a way as to avoid offending the powers that keep our school systems chained to the Common Core standards. But buried in the report are some shocking findings, if you look hard enough to find them.
The most shocking finding of the NEPE report is not to be found in the summary of the findings even though it should have been included as one of the most significant concerns. This finding is about the validity of the PARCC tests upon which at least 90% of our Louisiana tests are based and it is just casually mentioned on page 44 of the 60 page report. It reads as follows:
2. Currently, PARCC’s Items are Prohibitively Difficult
Item analysis results from the first operational testing of PARCC show that test items across grades, subject areas, and modes of testing are extremely difficult for targeted students by grade. On ELA/L items the median proportions of students who were able answer items correctly ranged from 37%- 47% only in 2015-16. On math items those median proportions ranged from 22%-55% only (PARCC-Pearson, 2017, pp 64-65). Users and test-makers should examine the possible causes for this finding, as that report uses data collected five years after reform implementation began. Discussions on how best to align CCSS reform implementation in schools with the testing schedule under ESSA need to occur immediately, so as to optimize results with higher levels of content-based validity.
Notice that this analysis recommends the discussion of immediate changes to the PARCC tests if they are to be brought to some valid level. So why are so many states continuing to use a group of invalid tests? Remember, in Louisiana, these tests are used to grade schools and as a 35% portion of each teacher's evaluation.
What this finding means is that nationwide, the average proportion of questions answered correctly on these tests was less than 40%. This is the generally same conclusion I got when I reviewed the raw scores of our Louisiana students. As I pointed out in the previous post, such low performance and such low cut scores makes outright guessing a major factor in the test results. If students can come close to passing the tests by just making random guesses then the test is measuring very little of the student's real knowledge.
There is another important factor that some teachers have brought to my attention that may be invalidating our state tests. Teachers are observing that a significant number of students are so discouraged by the difficulty of the tests, that they often turn in their test paper with most of the questions left unanswered. Some kids just quit trying after attempting just a few questions. These test results are totally invalid in my opinion. Yet in Louisiana, a student who answers none of the questions on a LEAP test gets a score of 625 out of 850. Such a score is meaningless and extremely misleading.
On page 10 of the report James Harvey, the Executive Director of the National Superintendents Roundtable states the following:
Item analysis results from the first operational testing of PARCC show that test items across grades, subject areas, and modes of testing are extremely difficult for targeted students by grade. On ELA/L items the median proportions of students who were able answer items correctly ranged from 37%- 47% only in 2015-16. On math items those median proportions ranged from 22%-55% only (PARCC-Pearson, 2017, pp 64-65). Users and test-makers should examine the possible causes for this finding, as that report uses data collected five years after reform implementation began. Discussions on how best to align CCSS reform implementation in schools with the testing schedule under ESSA need to occur immediately, so as to optimize results with higher levels of content-based validity.
Notice that this analysis recommends the discussion of immediate changes to the PARCC tests if they are to be brought to some valid level. So why are so many states continuing to use a group of invalid tests? Remember, in Louisiana, these tests are used to grade schools and as a 35% portion of each teacher's evaluation.
What this finding means is that nationwide, the average proportion of questions answered correctly on these tests was less than 40%. This is the generally same conclusion I got when I reviewed the raw scores of our Louisiana students. As I pointed out in the previous post, such low performance and such low cut scores makes outright guessing a major factor in the test results. If students can come close to passing the tests by just making random guesses then the test is measuring very little of the student's real knowledge.
There is another important factor that some teachers have brought to my attention that may be invalidating our state tests. Teachers are observing that a significant number of students are so discouraged by the difficulty of the tests, that they often turn in their test paper with most of the questions left unanswered. Some kids just quit trying after attempting just a few questions. These test results are totally invalid in my opinion. Yet in Louisiana, a student who answers none of the questions on a LEAP test gets a score of 625 out of 850. Such a score is meaningless and extremely misleading.
On page 10 of the report James Harvey, the Executive Director of the National Superintendents Roundtable states the following:
“In education today, measurement experts occupy the exalted status of Irish priests. With their figurative back to the schools, these prelates genuflect at the altar of Item Response Theory and mumble confidently amongst themselves in a language known as psychometrics. No one in the school congregation understands a word of it, but we are assured these mysteries are based on science...”
The entire education community has been bamboozled by the testing companies and our fake state and national education reformers into adopting a set of standards that are totally inappropriate for our students and that allow these "priests" to tell us what it all means since it is assumed we are not qualified to make such interpretations.
The entire education community has been bamboozled by the testing companies and our fake state and national education reformers into adopting a set of standards that are totally inappropriate for our students and that allow these "priests" to tell us what it all means since it is assumed we are not qualified to make such interpretations.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Louisiana Education's Myth of High Standards
If there is one thing Louisiana State Superintendent John White stands for its higher standards!
In 2012 Governor Jindal and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) engineered the appointment of John White (An individual with basically zero education credentials) to the office of State Superintendent. The one thing they expected him to implement were higher standards. Accordingly, in numerous presentations White often emphatically makes the case for higher standards. It is an article of faith to reformers such as White that if standards are set high, then teachers and students will rise to meet them. This post examines the standards that White has established for Louisiana students and the real achievement levels accomplished.
At the same time that John White was in the process of being appointed, Louisiana was in the middle of adopting the new Common Core Standards. This was a set of academic standards primarily in math and Language Arts that were considered tougher and more appropriate to prepare our kids for life. It was believed that if our students were required to master these tougher standards that they would be better prepared for college and careers.
Much of the project for the adoption of the new standards was promoted by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, whose support was obtained by a brief high level meeting between the Gates' and the creators of the standards. The Obama administration was sold on the project by his outspoken Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. (Another person with no real experience in teaching) The Federal government then found ways around the law prohibiting the Department of Education from mandating curriculum by handing out a lot of money to states that "voluntarily" adopted the program. Louisiana adopted the standards, sight unseen, before they were even written.
Never mind that the Common Core standards had been hurriedly put together by a supposedly elite group of college testing experts who had little experience actually teaching students at the k-12 level. Never mind that the proponents were in such a hurry to implement these new standards all across the nation that they did not bother to run field trials of any kind. (Like what we would do before we subjected our children for a new pharmaceutical drug) It was just assumed that these tougher standards were just the medicine our students needed to make them smarter and more able to compete in the world job market.
A major part of the implementation of the standards included the adoption of new tests for all students at the end of each school year as a way of insuring that the standards were being met. State law, even before the adoption of the new standards already required that students in 4th and 8th grades could not get promoted to the next grade if they failed their state tests in both math and English. So the new tests would be used as further evidence that our students were learning what they needed to know before they moved into high school. Also students at the high school level would not be allowed to graduate unless they passed certain competency tests in critical subjects.
The real promotion standards as measured by the new state tests are low enough for outright guessing to become a major factor
The state BESE approved standard for receiving a passing grade in course work has long been 67%. In addition, students are expected to meet attendance requirements before they can be promoted.
But an exception was made for the new Common Core tests. Basically the Department of Education was allowed to set any standard they chose relative to the percentage of questions answered correctly. And they were also allowed to change that underlying percentage for passing without consultation from year to year. The passing standard has been quietly watered down over a period of years without the public or the legislature being informed. So at the end of the 2017-2018 school year my public records requests revealed that a student on average only needs to get about 30% of the questions right on their math and English tests in order to get a passing score. That's just a little above what a student who knows absolutely nothing could attain with outright guessing.
My most recent public records requests reveal that 20% of our 4th and 8th graders did not meet the extremely low standard for passing both English and math in 2018
State law still clearly requires that students who fail both math and English are not supposed to progress to the next grade. But John White and BESE found a loophole in the law that allows school systems to implement alternatives to retention for students who do not meet those standards. So by getting local school officials to fill out a little paperwork, all students can magically pass.
The new BESE rules for promotion basically allow any student to be promoted to the next grade even if there is absolutely no evidence of learning in their present grade.
Even though 20% of students are repeatedly failing their state tests, public records reveal that only 1.8% of 4th and 8th graders are denied promotion. The truth is that the Louisiana Department of Education, using the latest BESE policy, expects our local school systems to promote basically all students to the next grade each year whether they have learned the material or not. Then the teachers in the next grade are magically supposed to teach them the new material in addition to what they did not learn in previous grades.
How can students graduate if they are promoted to high school with little or no knowledge?
As this blog explained in an earlier post, the improved graduation rate of Louisiana students is achieved using even more of the John White standards magic. Using the secret raw score standards implemented by John White, a student can pass his/her algebra I test by scoring only 15% correct answers. Geometry requires only 12% correct answers. English I can be passed by getting 17% of the questions right. Louisiana's improved graduation rate was achieved by faking the stats.
Here are the real results of the proficiency of Louisiana students as measured by an unbiased and untainted testing system
The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) is a national test that is considered the gold standard for measuring proficiency of students in 4th and 8th grade in reading and math. On the latest NAEP test given, only 26% of Louisiana 4th graders achieved a proficient rating in reading, only 27% of Louisiana 4th graders got a proficient rating in math, only 25% of Louisiana 8th graders got a proficient rating in reading, and only 19% of Louisiana students got a proficient rating in math. My analysis reveals that our state tests have been inflated an average of 59% in recent years compared to the NAEP tests.
How have Louisiana's children fared during the term of John White compared to students in other states?
The latest NAEP test results which compare Louisiana student performance in reading and math to all other states places Louisiana at its lowest ranking ever. We now rank at the bottom of all state systems. The only area scoring lower on NAEP is Washington D.C.
Don't blame the students or the teachers. The fact is the Common Common core standards are so bad, so age inappropriate, so filled with stuff these kids will never use, that the tests should not be used for any purpose, much less the promotion and graduation of students. Meanwhile our students are being denied instruction in real world problems and truly useful reading and writing skills.
I would dare any BESE member or legislator with a college degree to take the 8th grade LEAP math test and make their raw score public.
The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry need not complain if their new employees cannot read, write, or do math. These kids have passed the "higher standards" LABI and White forced on us.
In 2012 Governor Jindal and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) engineered the appointment of John White (An individual with basically zero education credentials) to the office of State Superintendent. The one thing they expected him to implement were higher standards. Accordingly, in numerous presentations White often emphatically makes the case for higher standards. It is an article of faith to reformers such as White that if standards are set high, then teachers and students will rise to meet them. This post examines the standards that White has established for Louisiana students and the real achievement levels accomplished.
At the same time that John White was in the process of being appointed, Louisiana was in the middle of adopting the new Common Core Standards. This was a set of academic standards primarily in math and Language Arts that were considered tougher and more appropriate to prepare our kids for life. It was believed that if our students were required to master these tougher standards that they would be better prepared for college and careers.
Much of the project for the adoption of the new standards was promoted by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, whose support was obtained by a brief high level meeting between the Gates' and the creators of the standards. The Obama administration was sold on the project by his outspoken Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. (Another person with no real experience in teaching) The Federal government then found ways around the law prohibiting the Department of Education from mandating curriculum by handing out a lot of money to states that "voluntarily" adopted the program. Louisiana adopted the standards, sight unseen, before they were even written.
Never mind that the Common Core standards had been hurriedly put together by a supposedly elite group of college testing experts who had little experience actually teaching students at the k-12 level. Never mind that the proponents were in such a hurry to implement these new standards all across the nation that they did not bother to run field trials of any kind. (Like what we would do before we subjected our children for a new pharmaceutical drug) It was just assumed that these tougher standards were just the medicine our students needed to make them smarter and more able to compete in the world job market.
A major part of the implementation of the standards included the adoption of new tests for all students at the end of each school year as a way of insuring that the standards were being met. State law, even before the adoption of the new standards already required that students in 4th and 8th grades could not get promoted to the next grade if they failed their state tests in both math and English. So the new tests would be used as further evidence that our students were learning what they needed to know before they moved into high school. Also students at the high school level would not be allowed to graduate unless they passed certain competency tests in critical subjects.
The real promotion standards as measured by the new state tests are low enough for outright guessing to become a major factor
The state BESE approved standard for receiving a passing grade in course work has long been 67%. In addition, students are expected to meet attendance requirements before they can be promoted.
But an exception was made for the new Common Core tests. Basically the Department of Education was allowed to set any standard they chose relative to the percentage of questions answered correctly. And they were also allowed to change that underlying percentage for passing without consultation from year to year. The passing standard has been quietly watered down over a period of years without the public or the legislature being informed. So at the end of the 2017-2018 school year my public records requests revealed that a student on average only needs to get about 30% of the questions right on their math and English tests in order to get a passing score. That's just a little above what a student who knows absolutely nothing could attain with outright guessing.
My most recent public records requests reveal that 20% of our 4th and 8th graders did not meet the extremely low standard for passing both English and math in 2018
State law still clearly requires that students who fail both math and English are not supposed to progress to the next grade. But John White and BESE found a loophole in the law that allows school systems to implement alternatives to retention for students who do not meet those standards. So by getting local school officials to fill out a little paperwork, all students can magically pass.
The new BESE rules for promotion basically allow any student to be promoted to the next grade even if there is absolutely no evidence of learning in their present grade.
Even though 20% of students are repeatedly failing their state tests, public records reveal that only 1.8% of 4th and 8th graders are denied promotion. The truth is that the Louisiana Department of Education, using the latest BESE policy, expects our local school systems to promote basically all students to the next grade each year whether they have learned the material or not. Then the teachers in the next grade are magically supposed to teach them the new material in addition to what they did not learn in previous grades.
How can students graduate if they are promoted to high school with little or no knowledge?
As this blog explained in an earlier post, the improved graduation rate of Louisiana students is achieved using even more of the John White standards magic. Using the secret raw score standards implemented by John White, a student can pass his/her algebra I test by scoring only 15% correct answers. Geometry requires only 12% correct answers. English I can be passed by getting 17% of the questions right. Louisiana's improved graduation rate was achieved by faking the stats.
Here are the real results of the proficiency of Louisiana students as measured by an unbiased and untainted testing system
The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) is a national test that is considered the gold standard for measuring proficiency of students in 4th and 8th grade in reading and math. On the latest NAEP test given, only 26% of Louisiana 4th graders achieved a proficient rating in reading, only 27% of Louisiana 4th graders got a proficient rating in math, only 25% of Louisiana 8th graders got a proficient rating in reading, and only 19% of Louisiana students got a proficient rating in math. My analysis reveals that our state tests have been inflated an average of 59% in recent years compared to the NAEP tests.
How have Louisiana's children fared during the term of John White compared to students in other states?
The latest NAEP test results which compare Louisiana student performance in reading and math to all other states places Louisiana at its lowest ranking ever. We now rank at the bottom of all state systems. The only area scoring lower on NAEP is Washington D.C.
Don't blame the students or the teachers. The fact is the Common Common core standards are so bad, so age inappropriate, so filled with stuff these kids will never use, that the tests should not be used for any purpose, much less the promotion and graduation of students. Meanwhile our students are being denied instruction in real world problems and truly useful reading and writing skills.
I would dare any BESE member or legislator with a college degree to take the 8th grade LEAP math test and make their raw score public.
The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry need not complain if their new employees cannot read, write, or do math. These kids have passed the "higher standards" LABI and White forced on us.
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