Do you want the same to happen in Washington State? Original article at Western Journal Business owners, beware of students with high school diplomas from Oregon. They may not be able to read or do basic math. According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, in 2020, the Oregon Department of Education suspended the “essential skills” requirement to accommodate students who had fallen behind because of school shutdowns and online learning — or so they said. The state changed letter grades to a pass-incomplete system. There were little to no attendance requirements, and the essential skills requirements were suspended, according to OPB. Although the suspension was supposed to … [Read more...]
5 Reasons teaching is NOT a profession
This article comes to us from a teacher. Dr. Ernest J. Zarra III, PhD at his blog: www.erniezarra.com He's a teacher. He loves education. He tells us why teaching is NOT a profession and gives us "5" reasons. Years and years ago, a professor looked at me with that certain look. I interpreted the look as displeasure. He explained it was a look of perplexity. "Zarra," he said, "Why don't you go into the teaching profession?" I thought to myself, would I have to develop confusing facial expressions in the process? I replied to the professor with two responses. The first response was "I don't want to work with kids." The second response was "I wouldn't know what to say or … [Read more...]
Google Is Developing Dossiers on Students Using Their Classroom Products, Disclosures Show
Your tax dollars are going to buy lots and lots of tech. School districts are asking for separate levy's for tech that will bring in millions to tens of millions of dollars. Some districts use Apple products but the vast majority use Google Chromebook's. Why? Because they are less expensive and Google provides all sorts of products. Of course Google gathers data but it's claimed to be "anonymized" so children are protected. Some school district IT departments assure parents and the public that there is no risk. They assure you that no porn sites can be reached and that your children aren't being tracked or monitored and all the data is protected. Google is used for email; writing text; doing … [Read more...]
Why boys and girls may score differently on state tests
We hear that everyone is equal to everyone. We need to treat (and expect) the same of everyone. But is that really true? Are there some inherent differences between male and female? WE came across this article at Journalist's Resource that you may find interesting. By Denise-Marie Ordway A new study suggests the format of state tests may partially explain why boys tend to earn higher scores in math and girls generally do better on the reading and language arts sections. It found that, on average, boys outperform girls on state tests that rely more heavily on multiple-choice questions — a common way to measure math knowledge. Meanwhile, girls outperform boys on exams that rely … [Read more...]
SBAc: Part 3 – Battle Ground SD vs. Washington State
This article is 9 pages. Rather than trying to format it to be readable in the blog it's easier if we provide the document for you in .pdf format. Download it by clicking on the link. It will take a few minutes to read. Here are the highlights: Looking at the test scores by following students as they move up in grades makes most of the results look better 40% to nearly 60% of the students taking the test are listed as failing. All prior tests showed a different picture. Why? Are the students suddenly dumber? Is the SBAc flawed? Were the prior tests too easy and not indicative of true performance? Battle Ground sometimes beats the State and other times falls short. Battle Ground … [Read more...]
America’s Education System – A bit of history
Understanding history helps us avoid the pitfalls of the past. The following story was originally run at Intellectual Takeout. The author is Daniel Lattier We offer it because it helps us understand how public education has moved from the local community needs and values to become focused on social/emotional; PBIS and a host of other government programs. Money is at the root and consolidation has allowed special interests to gain more control. By now you’ve most likely heard that America’s education system outspends all but a few countries in the world, while at the same time our students’ proficiency in reading and math has flatlined. What you probably haven’t heard … [Read more...]
Feds Try to Illegally Regulate State Education Standards
From an article at National Review - writer is Alexandra DeSanctis Bureaucrats manipulate a new law that was designed to reduce federal involvement in education. In December of last year, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which aimed to roll back much of the federal government’s role in education policy, but now the Department of Education has released a lengthy proposal that might impede that goal. School systems are set to begin the transition from the No Child Left Behind Act to ESSA, during the upcoming academic year and put the new program into full effect in 2017–18. At the end of May, however, the Department of Education, tasked with … [Read more...]
Leaked Questions Rekindle Debate Over Common Core Tests
From an article in The NewYork Times The questions, taken from a Common Core fourth-grade reading test, came to a Columbia professor in an email from an anonymous teacher, part of a blistering critique of the exam. The professor put the questions and the critique on her blog, and before she knew it, her posting ignited on the Internet, fueling a new round of anger about nationwide standardized testing. As fast as the company that manages the tests played Whac-a-Mole, trying to get the questions taken down, teachers, parents and education experts kept spreading them on blogs and Twitter — despite the fact that the questions are still being used in testing. Some argued that robust public … [Read more...]
Forrest Gump would have failed the Common Core test
Sometimes the simplest way is the best way. Forrest Gump would not have done well on the Common Core tests but he would still have been right. The day finally arrives: Forrest Gump dies and goes to heaven. He is met at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter himself. The gates are closed however, as Forrest approaches the gatekeeper. St. Peter says, “Well Forrest, it’s certainly good to see you. We have heard a lot about you. I must inform you that the place is filling up fast, and we’ve been administering an entrance examination for everyone. The tests are fairly short, but you need to pass before you can get into Heaven.” Forrest responds “It shore is good to be … [Read more...]
How to Tell Real Scientific Research from Fake Common Core Consultant Rubber Stamping Swamp Gas
From Coalition to Protect our Public Schools .... I am currently working on a report on the (lack of) reliability and validity of the SBAC Common Core test. To make a long story short, there is no evidence that the SBAC test is either reliable or valid. In fact, there is a mountain of evidence that the SBAC test is not reliable or valid or fair or accurate. But we will get to that in a future report. For now, we need to cover how to tell real science from the junk science being pumped out by the Gates Foundation. Because to my shock and amazement, there have recently been at least a dozen reports published claiming that SBAC is reliable and valid! Of course, all of these fake reports were … [Read more...]