Posted on 04/17/2003 2:26:04 AM PDT by sarcasm
OSTON, April 16 — Many fourth graders at Hernandez Elementary School here do not remember what they did on their last snow day, which was two years ago. Others like Gabriel Prado, 10, remember just the painful parts, like being hit by a snowball thrown by his older brother.
Although the students cross their fingers and hope for the big morning announcement every time the sky becomes gray, two years, they say, is a long time to think back on their last lucky break. And that has become a problem for the students, who have to retake part of the state's standardized test.
A question on the fourth-grade writing section of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, which all the state's fourth graders took on Thursday, asked them to imagine waking up to their "dream come true," school being canceled because of a snowstorm. Students were asked to "write a story about a snow day off from school that you remember."
It has been years since many Massachusetts school districts, including Boston, have canceled school because of inclement weather. Although heavy snow fell this winter, almost all of it was on weekends or vacations. Many students, educators said, have no idea what a snow day is. That is especially true in urban districts, they say, where many students have emigrated from countries with warm climates. Urban students are also at a disadvantage because they, unlike their suburban counterparts, often do not "have mom at home to do activities with" and often just watch television, said Margarita Muniz, principal at Hernandez Elementary, a bilingual school that teaches primarily in English.
Wilfredo T. Laboy, superintendent of the Lawrence district, which is 89 percent Spanish speaking, said: "I believe it is culturally biased. For kids from Santo Domingo, Southeast Asia or other warm climates, what do they say about snow?"
A spokeswoman for the State Education Department, Heidi Perlman, said the question went through a rigorous evaluation, including passage before a bias review committee. The department, Ms. Perlman said, did not consider that some students might not know what a snow day is. But after some parents called, the department decided to give principals at schools that did not have snow days the option of re-administering the test on May 8. The principals also have the option of giving the test to individual students who might have been at a disadvantage because they recently arrived from a warmer climate.
The question, which, on its face, seemed "harmless enough," Ms. Perlman said, and was meant just to judge writing ability.
"It's entirely a question to judge how well a student can write," she said. "If a student can write an essay about watching TV, that's fine. It's looking at their grammar, their spelling and their writing. It's not about the content."
Boston is the sole district that requires all fourth graders — almost 5,000 — to retake the test, said Jonathan Palumbo, a spokesman for the Boston Public Schools. He said the district wanted to give all students the same opportunity to do well.
Thomas Potter, superintendent of the Central Berkshire district in western Massachusetts, canceled school once this year. Mr. Potter can understand why some parents might be suspicious about the question if their children had not had snow days, but said most students in the state could imagine what a snow day would be like.
"I don't think it's culturally biased at all," Mr. Potter said.
Rebecca Jackson, 10, from Hernandez Elementary, said the test was "sort of hard" because she "knows what I do on snow days, but not on particular snow days." She wrote about "three things I like to do when it snows: ice skating, forts and sledding."
Victor Mejia, 9, said he thought that the question was not fair because some students like him had trouble remembering what occurred two years ago, a long, long time in a fourth grader's world. But Kevin Vega, 10, said it was not difficult for him to remember the shiny sled that he used with his family.
"Some of us can't forget that day," Kevin said.
When asked whether they wanted to retake the test, class members screeched a high-pitched drawn-out, "Nooooo!"
"Does this mean we have to take the MCAS again?" Gabriel asked. "I don't want to. It was annoying enough the first time."
Did anyone never try to imagine what living in a jungle might be like? Could you not write about your imaginings? I certainly did even though I had never been in more jungle than a briar patch behind the house. An essay about being an Eskimo? Dogsleds and whale blubber. Ditto.
Will this nonsense ever end??
Someone teaching children ought to be more careful, could explain why very few in the media ever have subject and verb agreement.
I find this rather amusing.
I moved from California to central Virginia a little over a year ago. Before moving, I was told that this area averages four "snow days" a year.
Being a dumb Californian, I thought that meant days when snow falls. I now know better.
(For those who still don't know better: It means days when the schools close because of relatively heavy snowfall. What is considered to be "relatively heavy" varies with the ability of the community to deal with snow. And with its attitude.)
Ask them to write about a dream come true of owning a Nintendo 64 or a an Xbox that they've never seen and I'd be willing to bet they could fill a page or two.
you mean like boot camp? early morning hikes, push-ups, squat thrusts, the dreaded obstacle course? Well then, dammit, it DESERVES to be on the test.
"Their" is everywhere...and it's usually used incorrectly.
Here's a sentence that was found in my kid's textbook:
Anyone who doesn't like apples is out of their mind.
AGHHH!
Regards,
Mega BARF!!
Yes, but...
These days, you can't say "his" or "her".
By default, "their" becomes the generic third-party pronoun. Our language offers nothing better. It would be nice if it did, but it does not.
So, we improvise.
It's a minimum competency test! Teachers darn well better be teaching to at least minimum competency.
I have to admit, I too have reservations about the MCAS. Massachusetts is spending way too much money on this test. The SAT, GRE, MCAT, LCAT, etc. only take several hours to administer while the MCAS takes serveral days. The test could be streamlined to be given in less than a day's time and still ascertain whether or not a student has minimum competency in arithmetic and English.
YIKES! I can only imagine what Sister Mary Arnold would say (and it ain't pretty).
Come to think of it...had the good Sister (God rest her departed soul) seen that I'd just written the pseudo-word "ain't," she'd have had me on the proverbial rack.
Regards,
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