An interesting article appeared in the Sunday paper in Virginia Beach this past weekend. The article, titled Loopholes Give Schools a Pass Even When Scores Fall Short, relates how if ALL student scores on standardized testing were examined - even the scores of special education students - not so many schools would have the passing grades they now enjoy. Loopholes in the way test scores are reported give very skewed results. Although this article focused on Virginia's administration and reporting of testing scores, I'll guarantee the same things are going on in a whole lot of other states.
The article, though very detailed and confusing in points, does an excellent job (in my opinion) of highlighting the issue of not including the scores of special education students. I believe it would be well worth your reading time, and then I suggest you find out what is going on in your state. It could be a real eye-opener.
And then if you still want to torture your mind, read the comments left by the newspaper readers.
Another reason we pulled M out of school were these ongoing tests each year. They exhasuted her and it seemed like her therapies were always delayed. The teachers saying, "Oh...we are too busy with testing. School won't really get going for a few weeks." Drove me crazy. M coming home every day a wreck. Needless to say she never passed either.
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