Posted on 07/11/2002 12:10:09 PM PDT by aculeus
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina threw out the disappointing results of a statewide writing test for schoolchildren Thursday, in part because the exam wasn't written clearly enough.
The 9-1 vote by the state Board of Education will ensure that teachers and schools are not penalized for the bad marks. The state has the authority to clean house at schools that get low ratings.
The test was given to more than 200,000 fourth-graders and seventh-graders.
Only 47 percent of fourth-graders passed the single-essay test, down from 69 percent the previous year; 63 percent of seventh-graders received passing scores, a decline of 10 percentage points.
The drop was attributed to poor wording of the essay question for the fourth-graders and an increase in the amount of time given to the youngsters.
Some education officials told the board that the question that asked pupils to "write about a time you had a great day at school" may have prompted them to write a list activities rather than an essay.
The extra time may have led them to add sentences to the end of their essays after they found they had remaining time, said Lou Fabrizio, head of testing for the state Department of Public Instruction.
Could the decline be because administrators were criticized for tossing out low scores to get the 69 to 63 percent figures in the first place?
See apparently they hired some type of firm to review the test and give their "expert" paid for by us taxpayers opinion. They gave the test to a sampling of kids and came up with the same result quite some time ago. This firm told the state that the test was flawed but the powers that be decided to go ahead and give it anyway.
Personally I feel they've had 5 years minimum to teach these kids to learn to write a simple essay, and teach them the difference between a list and a story with a subject, conclusion etc. My 7 year old that will start 2nd grade in Aug is already capable of doing this. If these kids could not do this by the 4th and 7th grade then the education was lacking not the test.
Of course no one takes responsibility for anything anymore, it's always someone else's fault.
MKM
Pound of lead is heavier, what's the problem? (puzzled)
What do you think the results would have been had the essay question been "Write about Britney Spears"?
LOL!! Let's have some names please!! I can think of at least two county superintendents that pushed to have these thrown out. I think it's important to know 'which' of our state's education officials believed this. Hey, I wonder if Rufus was there. Or maybe Jim Hunt. I bet anything this will be used in Mike Easley's campaign to push for the lottery.
"You see parents, instead of spending in a fiscally sound way, what we REALLY need is a form of statewide gambling. All the money that comes in that doesn't go into one of my or my cohorts' slush funds (properly hidden in some state 'agency') will actually be spent on education. Mind you I'm in it for the money so it won't be a lot, but just look at this report!!"--Gov Mike 'Tax 'em more' Easley
Is there anything missing in this part of the sentence? Did the writer of this article attend public school here in NC? Or is the lack of education just seeping out to other states by now?
Essay 3 a : an analytic or interpretative literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a limited or personal point of view
So, those students who gave a list for a great day at school probably wrote something like, "On a great day at school I had English, and Earth Science (Save the Whales!) and Phys Ed and ..." -- that's a list, because it just gives a series of discrete items without explanation.
An essay would have been more explanatory, such as, "A few weeks ago one particular school day was truly great. In the name of the Oppressed People's of the Third World - especially the Palestinians, me and my hommies occupied the Guidance Office to demand an end to culturally biased testing." This uses complete sentences and explains what made the day great, it doesn't just tick off factoids.
The wording of the test question quite clearly called for the second form, but students who don't lack fundamental writing skills will always avoid something that complicated in favor of the first form.
but students who don't lack fundamental writing skills will always avoid something that complicated in favor of the first form.
Speaking of lacvking writing skills ...
Translation: Teachers will still get their 'performance bonus'.
Period. End of story.
LOL! You would have passed with flying colors!
Beware.
Maybe it's just me, but is this sentence grammatically correct or is it just spoken colloquial form that is written down?
I would have written this as ""write about a time when you had a great day at school."
Is it just me?
-PJ
Yep, and I would bet that spelling and grammar were NOT part of the grading criteria; it sounds like they graded on how well the student answered their question.
This is not so much "poorly written" as it is simply a poor question. I mean, the first thing a kid reading this would think is, "So, did I ever have a great day at school?"
This pathetic exercise was apparently designed more as a propaganda tool (the question subliminally suggests that "great days at school" happen all the time) rather than a true test of writing skills. I think somebody was too clever by half.
Speaking of which, I noticed that the idiot who came up with and phrased the test question was not named in the story. Considering the time and considerable expense of administering this useless (and now discarded) test, it would be nice to know if the idiot(s) who designed this test will be held accountable. (LOFL!!! Yeah sure, the scumbag teachers are going to hold one of their own accountable, hahahaha...!)
Psssst! Did you see the Keywords I added to this article?
Heh heh.
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