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Tuesday, June 2, 2015

The district insists its hands are tied, must fail 22 percent of third graders.

That's what assistant superintendent Mason Davis says at the 3:26 mark anyways.



I would like to remind everyone the test hasn't determined to be valid or not, yet the state feels it is okay to put the bottom 20 percent of scorers on the chopping block and instead of saying no thank you, we'll find another way to determine who passes or fails the district seems determined to go along.

 The error of failing third graders is also compounded because they are not saying students scoring below a certain point will be retained, they are saying the bottom 20 percent will be retained no matter what.

I believe the district will work hard to avoid failing students, sorry make that make teachers work hard. The problems however here are both legion and unfair to students and families. The district has alternate tools to be able to ascertain passing or not, ones that don't stretch into the summer causing more heart ache and angst and like other districts are doing should use them. 

2 comments:

  1. Most of the large districts in the state like Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Broward are not using FSA results to decide whether of not a third grader will be retained. In fact, the state passed a law in May which allowed districts to make their own promotional decisions for the 2014/2015 school year. Why Duval is insisting that they have to retain these children, and that they have no choice in the matter? I find it interesting that Duval parents aren't being told this by our local press.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article21424197.html
    http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/Third-Grade-Promotion-to-be-Based-on-Grades-Rather-Than-Standardized-Tests-302847061.html
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-lombardo/floridas-hiatus-on-third-_b_7456048.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Because the management of DCPS is like the insane asylum being run by the inmates!

    ReplyDelete