Still Putting It All Together

Why, they’ll wonder, would the citizens of a country that had become the richest and most powerful in the world, a country that had accumulated patents, Pulitzers, Nobels, and other national and international awards out of all proportion to the size of its population - why would it hand over its system of education to corporations, politicians and a wealthy guy who went to private schools? That wealthy guy, of course, is Bill Gates. To sell a particular theory, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funneled millions of dollars to a broad range of parent, professional and political groups , including the Parent Teacher Association, the ASCD (formerly known as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development), the National Writers Project, the American Federation of Teachers, The National Council of La Raza, many universities, the Aspen Institute, the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and, very importantly, to the manufacturers of standardized tests. The Gates theory? America’s schools were “soft”; they needed to be “hard” - rigorous. The “soft” part of the theory wasn’t based on research, didn’t emerge from public dialogue, wasn’t a conclusion reached by knowledgeable observers, and certainly wasn’t a view held by those actually doing the work - classroom teachers. The “hard,” or rigor, part of the theory has now been in place long enough to demonstrate that it doesn’t work. A report from the National Academy of Sciences says what even longtime fans of the test-and-punish school of reform now admit: it’s been a fiasco. Specifically, the National Academy of Sciences finds, “The tests that are typically used to increase performance in education fall short in providing a complete measure of desired educational outcomes.” Never mind all that. The sales pitch for the need for tough love has been phenomenally successful. The idea that greater rigor will breathe new life into American education has become the conventional wisdom, promoted by liberals and conservatives, the leaders of both political parties, the US Department of Education, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Center for American Progress, Democrats for Education Reform, the Gates, Broad and Walton Family foundations, and by the producers of educational materials. They quote each other and the media echo chamber amplifies it.

Click the link to read the entire article.

You need to read this.

What are we doing to our kids?   We need to access skills, that’s fine.  But why aren’t our assessments authentic?

When a new generation of tests—the common-core assessments—is unveiled in a few years, special education teachers should be able to put away their index cards and all the other shortcuts and homemade solutions they have created over the years to make paper-and-pencil tests accessible for many students with disabilities.

That’s because the new, computerized tests will have accommodations for most students with disabilities built right in.

Using $360 million in federal Race to the Top money, two state collaboratives are designing tests for the new common standards in mathematics and English/language arts that have been adopted by 44 states and the District of Columbia. The federal government expects the tests to be ready by the 2014-15 school year.

The two groups tasked with developing the common-core assessments have been thinking about students with disabilities from the time they first won the grants from the U.S. Department of Education to design the tests. That’s a sharp departure from what’s been the norm in standardized testing, which has been to consider accommodations for students with disabilities as an afterthought.

I’m glad accommodations are being considered, however, I’d much rather see appropriate assessments that look at students’ progress being developed. 

I post a lot of special education articles and ideas for working with struggling students on my tumblr.

But what about Gifted students?   They also deserve a free and appropriate education.

In Ohio, we are only required to identify gifted students — not actually do anything with them once we find them.  Most districts do have gifted programs, but when money gets tight they are some of the first cuts to be made.

I think this article provides some good starting points and definitions when it comes to gifted students.  

I’ll be on the look out to find more to share soon.

What does your state/district do for gifted students?

I can see both the pros and cons in this.

If all students can’t use it, then it isn’t fair.   Also, is spelling assessed in any of their other exams?

omeone asked me yesterday if I knew of a simple voice recording service to replace the one that Drop.io offered before announcing their shut down. Vocaroo could be a good replacement for the Drop.io voice recording service. 

Vocaroo is a free service that allows users to create audio recordings without the need to install any software. You don’t even have to create an account to use Vocaroo. All you need to provide is a microphone. I used the microphone built into my MacBook to make the recording below. To create a recording just go to Vocaroo.com, click record, grant Vocaroo access to your mic, and start talking. After completing your recording, Vocaroo gives you the choice to publish it or to scrap it and try again.

This could be an excellent tool for my students that need their tests read to them, but do not come to see me enough for them to take all their tests with me.

Click the link for the whole article.

Thanks to Free Technology for Teachers for this tool.

Testmoz is a simple service for creating and administering multiple choice tests online. Testmoz provides a unique url for the tests you create. Testmoz also provides a “pass code” that test takers have to enter. As the administrator of the tests you create you can quickly see who has taken your test and how many questions they answered correctly.