tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post2839204011060240872..comments2024-03-29T06:57:49.917-04:00Comments on Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Transform education by measuring what matters. Hint: It's not test scores.Lisa Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07759123507185453030noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-54546370776698755472012-08-31T08:06:03.099-04:002012-08-31T08:06:03.099-04:00Dear Lisa -
I am basically in agreement with you...Dear Lisa - <br /><br />I am basically in agreement with you re assessment via tests. A quick story. When I went for my teaching license way back when, the NYCBOE (as it was then called) appointed teachers to teaching positions strictly based on a written test. The higher one's score, the sooner one was appointed to a school. Obviously, the written test said nothing about a person's potential effectiveness as a classroom teacher. As we know, this has changed. In the same way assessment of student learning and progress needs to change.<br /><br />Testing costs - In the early 1990s, the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy (CSTEEP), at Boston College, calculated a "high" estimate of $22.7 billion spent on standardized testing per year. Their estimate breaks down to about $575 per student per year. A report from the federally-funded Center for Research on Education, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) counted cost components in much the same way as the CSTEEP study estimated costs of a certain state test at between $848 and $1,792 per student tested ($1,320 would be mid-range).<br /><br />Some claim these estimates are way too high, as they include not just the cost of testing, but the estimated cost of any activities "related to" a test as costs of the test. Things such as preparing materials related to the assessment program for classroom use, and the present value of student time spent preparing for the test. They claim the more accurate costs would be those charged by the testing companies, which were $20 to $70 per student in 2006.<br /><br />Let’s say we split the difference and settle on $200 per student (and remember these are numbers that are at least 6 to 15 years old). The National Center for Education Statistics (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372) says this fall there will be 49.8 million public school students nationwide; even at a non-inflation adjusted rate of $200 per student that would be close to $10 billion dollars. Even considering the low cost of $20 per student, we would be talking about $1 billion.<br /><br />Whew.<br /><br />(By the way, the stats I quote are from http://www.education-consumers.com/briefs/phelps2.shtm)Branzburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02958536497477359917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-52122704112470962192012-08-31T07:59:38.313-04:002012-08-31T07:59:38.313-04:00Because Americans have handed over the raising and...Because Americans have handed over the raising and education of our children to government who is allowing publishers to make billions off our children. There is too much money on the line to do what is right for children.Lisa Nielsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07759123507185453030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-57930425495827520852012-08-31T07:55:53.721-04:002012-08-31T07:55:53.721-04:00We already have the means to PERSONALIZE so much o...We already have the means to PERSONALIZE so much of a user's experience via technology such as social media! WHY aren't we doing that for LEARNING?DrThomasHohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03968669442483652683noreply@blogger.com