Three years ago, the threshold for passing was 60 percent. In fact, students in every grade this year could slide by with fewer correct answers on the math test than in 2006.
In math this year, 86 percent of students statewide passed the test, scoring at least a Level 3 (of 4), and 82 percent passed in English, the highest percentages in many years. But the lower passing scores, especially for math, have provided fodder for skeptics who believe the state has made it easier for struggling students to pass...
At a time when the tests are assuming an unprecedented role in classrooms across the state — used for everything from analyzing student deficiencies to determining which educators deserve cash bonuses — the debate underscores a central question: How accurate are the exams in measuring student learning and progress, and what skills should a passing grade reflect?
Sometimes, we in education are our own worst enemies.
3 comments:
"How accurate are the exams in measuring student learning and progress, and what skills should a passing grade reflect?" Will we ever get an answer to this question? I think not!
George
That's a perfectly acceptable solution for someone who sees education as a nice outcome provided it doesn't get in the way of more important considerations.
The solution isn't to yell at those folks; they're operating in a perfectly rationale if self-serving manner. The what to deal with the problem is to change the situation so that those sorts of solutions aren't appropriate and largely defensible.
This shouldn't be surprising. California has done the same thing -- the high school exit exam had it's passing threshold lowered to the point where a monkey throwing darts at an answer sheet could have passed. The idea that there are people who actually care about these scores is hilarious to me. We get the education system we deserve.
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