Testing

Since I have lived in New York and become a teacher here, I have cycled through various campaigns of thought on the ever-present state tests that are constantly being adminstered here. In Idaho, I never really knew the full impact of the "No Child Left Behind Act" and the standardization movement. The amount of micromanagement and legislative acts regarding education in Idaho is miniscule in comparison to the East coast.

Last week was "Regents Week." The Regents are state tests, administered three times per year, many of which are required to graduate. I believe that in order to receive a regents diploma (basically the equivalent of a high school diploma), each student must pass Living Environment, Global, Math A, Earth Science, US History and two English exams. To receive an Advanced regents diploma (for those who are seriously college bound), they must also pass Math B, a foreign language exam, Chemistry, and I think one other in the Social Sciences... government possibly. I am not exactly sure. Each of these tests is a 2-3 hour exam. The Math B covers two years of material - essentially algebra II, trigonometry, and statistics.

Every year it seems at least one test is thrown out for being flawed. In 2003 it was the Math A exam. The questions were worded poorly, the diagram provided with one problem had a error in the drawing so it was unsolvable, resulting in over 100,000 students in NY state who were taking the test in hopes to graduate that month and would be denied their diploma.

This semester, the test poorly represented the material required. No questions required any knowledge or slope, graphing, or parabolas. The test is comprised of four sections. The first is all multiple choice; 30 questions, worth two points each. The other sections all require the student to show work and are worth 2, 3, or 4 points each. A raw point score is first given, then a conversion is applied.
This is where the problem occurs.

This test was not difficult. A 65 out of 85 is the required passing score. The conversion this time was that a raw score of 34 points converted to a 65 final score. That means that a student needed only to answer 17 of the 30 multiple choice questions correctly in order to pass, without even looking at the rest of the test.

If teachers are working like crazy, teaching to the test, telling kids how important this test is to pass (all of which i disagree with anyways), then the test is so easy to pass, kids all get passed on that dont really know anything. 91% of the kids at my school passed the test. Plus, since the statistics are used to evaluate the school, if our scores go down next semester, which I am sure they will, we can be put under review for a school that is becoming worse instead of better.

I dont know what the answer is. There are so many bad teachers and students being passed on that some sort of standard requirement that is imposed by someone other than the teacher is almost a necessity. This is a joke though. A student who passes the test this semester didnt have to work nearly as hard as a student who passed in, for example, January 2003. If anything, there is less standardization than without the tests. Even worse, there is the impression being given that standardization is occurring and parents and colleges probably dont realize how far from the truth that really is.

A month later...

Well, I took a month off from basically the computer in general. Since I haven't been in college, I haven't had as many things to be procrastinating while sitting in front of my computer. Katie and I are now all completely moved in and enjoying the new place. The landlord is absolutely wonderful. Whenever he and his wife cook treats, they always bring us things. It's great to be part of a nice Greek family, complete with the mini orange tree in the lobby of the building.

So... everyone has been talking about this "blizzard" going on here. time for my take on it.

I had to go out Saturday night and I was really scared about it. All day I had been hearing about the blizzard. The person who writes the weather warnings for New York on weather.com is really overdramatic, which doesn't help. I believe it said that with the "swath of snow" that "anyone who leaves the comfort of their own home is risking their life." Sounds serious, I thought. I began to bundle up.

First thing, thermals that I wear to ski. Over those went the looser pajama pants, followed by sweat pants. Should do the trick. Then a t-shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, and my ski coat. Definetly warm. For my head, I chose the lined, knitted hat with teh full ear flaps. The snow boots went on next. Last, for my hands, a pair of gloves followed by a pair of mittens.

But still... What if I got stuck in the snow somewhere? Better pack food. So I packed my nalgene bottle full of water, an apple and a Luna bar. Of course, I felt the cell phone was a necessity, but apparently not enough to stop myself from forgetting it on my bed.

So, I say farewell to the roommie, struggle with the keys (gloves and mittens, remember) and step outside. I stand there for a moment, then turn to my friend and say "This isnt a blizzard! This is called 'snowing.'" Totally not that bad. I took off the mittens because it wasn't even that cold or windy. I had one of the best nights I've ever had in New York. Once in the city (manhattan), I had to walk from 5th Ave to 1st Ave, about a mile I think. It was SOOO nice!!! The city was so quiet, even though it was only about 10 pm. Since it was a "blizzard" hardly any cars were on the street, so we walked in the street in the tire tracks. Plus, everything was white and clean. It was absolutely beautiful. Of course, a day later, all the snow mixes with the street grime and its disgusting, but for that night, the city was perfect.

The moral of the story... as my parents later informed me, when New York gets more than 3 inches of snow at one time, it's a blizzard.

(No snow day, though. After school meetings were cancelled, at least.)