The State of Tennessee Department of Education (Motto: We will spend millions of dollars to make our schools like China!) is so addicted to testing that they will simply do anything to hide how bad they are at testing students.
More below the fold
From the Tennessean:
The Tennessee Department of Education is apologizing for its failure to communicate changes in how it calculated test scores this year.
The changes resulted in better-than-expected scores and may not be an indicator of overall student improvement.
Now, amid growing criticism from teachers and education groups — including a petition drive by 13 education advocacy groups — the department is holding meetings across the state with superintendents, principals and others to clear up the recent confusion.
The issue stemmed from how the department this year calculated "quick scores." These are the scores educators in grades 3-8 are legally required to incorporate into a student's final grade.
Based this year on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, the quick scores scale a student's raw TCAP results into a grade that fits within the typical 100-point grading system.
What is a "Quick Score?" Well, according to DOE, there is nothing to worry about -- it's not a made up number, they swear!-- However, parents shouldn't use this number to figure out how their kid did, nor will the State use the number to figure out how schools and teachers did! It's a "scaled up" number. But, it's okay, because, if you're Proficient, you are still scored with other Proficient students! So, that silly little 66% that Johnny earned in Math --poof-- is now an 89%!! Which used to be proficient. But, now isn't.
But don't worry, because the 89 is what we put on the report card so students and parents will not complain to state officials. What parents need to do is complain about how bad teachers and schools are doing!
But then, if Johnny got an 89, why is the school or the teacher doing poorly? Well, that's because the 89 -- a number that is NOT made up! -- is not the score they use for the Teachers and Schools. You see, about four months after the test, the teachers and schools get the REAL number. So Johnny's 66%, when counted for the school or teacher, is still 66%. (Seriously, THIS one is not a made up number!)
You know who should be the MOST angry, though, but doesn't know better? Honors students. If Johnny gets a 99% on the test (100 is impossible, I don't know why), that scales up to....99%. Whereas, the REAL Proficient score is a 68%. So, let's say Thomas scores a 78% for real. Well, we'll scale that on up to a 95%, and then, in our numbers that you should in no way use to evaluate how your child is doing, but we're going to put it on your report card anyway, Thomas is now just about as good as Johnny! Btw, this leads to a LOT of confusion in the fall amongst parents when they are told that the cut-off for Honors classes is an 85%. Because Thomas got a 95%, so he's in right? Nope. He actually got a 78, so he's not in.
What's more, all these numbers don't mean squat to the schools. The MOST important number is growth. Because, for some reason, this is the number that shows how good a teacher is. This one is the most fun. At our school, our 6th Grade Teachers are rock stars because they regularly get 5-10% growth! This is because in our Title I district, the 5th Grade Teachers are so focused on Math and Reading they don't teach Science or Social Studies. So, naturally, when they have 5 hours a week dedicated to those subjects, naturally, the students do much better. However, 7th Grade Teachers usually only grow 1% more the next year over 6th Grade. So -- and stay with me, because the logic gets interesting -- Even though the 6th Grade Class Average was 66 and the 7th Grade Class Average was 67, and the 8th Grade Class Average was 69, the 6th Grade Teachers are the heroes because their growth was so high! 7th Grade was only 1% and 8th Grade was only 2%. (mind=blown)
This is also the reason why some of the very best teachers REFUSE to teach Honors classes. Honors students can only grow a few points (from, say, 95 to 99). A "low" student, however, can go from 1% (yes, some students only score 1% on the test, but don't worry, Tennessee scales that up to 65% or so) to say 10%, and they grow 10%!! Remember, growth is the only number we care about. And a teacher who grows her kids from 1% to 10% is a bigger hero than a teacher who grows an honors class from 95% to 99%.
Then, don't even get me started on how Science and Social Studies are compared from year to year and they don't even teach the same thing! (6th Grade is World History, 7th Grade is Middle Ages and Renaissance, and 8th Grade is US History) It's comparing Apples and Oranges with Green Beans.
Finally, this kills us in Title I schools because so many of our students come to us with absolutely no knowledge of History or Science. I have 8th Graders who don't know who George Washington is. However, at a suburban school, those students not only know who he is, but have probably done reports on him. So, the suburban kids score, say, an 80% average on the test. But, since there is no pre-test (just a comparison to their 7th Grade World History Tests), We don't actually know if those students learned anything at all. Maybe they already knew this stuff. My Title I kids, however, only averaged 60% on their test. BUT, if there had been a pre-test at the beginning of the school year, we probably would have averaged about a 10%. (I know this because I actually do pre-tests).
OH, and don't forget this is all multiple choice. Now, they're adding an element of writing in, but they're only going to pay (some) high school graduates $7/hr to grade them. AND this year, we in Social Studies tried out a new computer test which was so fantastically bad that only about 1/3 of all of my students actually got to take the test. And we'll never know how they did on it.
I'm not a reporter, just a teacher in the middle of the system. There is actually a lot of stuff I'm not allowed to talk about. I really wish a good investigative journalist would look into this stuff and explain it to the masses so we could change this crap.
Tue Jun 02, 2015 at 7:54 PM PT: -- Quick note -- From discussions with other teachers and people who have been with TN for a while, I REALLY do believe that this whole system was created to give teachers and students the benefit of the doubt. The problem is that it's become such a huge behemoth of a problem, that they won't recognize that it is not working. And THAT is the problem that must be fixed.