I am in the process of analyzing test data from higher poverty schools within FCPS and stumbled on some troubling data. Maybe somebody with some knowledge of the topic can shed some light on this matter.

I looked at test scores from a number of elementary schools. I will use Crestwood Elementary School in Springfield as an example. This is a school with 46% ESL and 64% FRM populations.

In 2005-06 there were 58 3rd graders and 41 took the SOL Reading test.
In 2006-07 there were 59 3rd graders and 61 took the same test (impossible)
In 2007-08 there were 54 3rd graders and 36 took the smae test.

The percentage taking the exam went from 70 to 100 and back to 65.

Needless to say the percentage of students shown PASSING the SOL Reading test changed dramatically.

In 2005-06 74 percent passed, in 2006-07 65 percent passed and in 2007-08 90 percent passed.

I just cannot believe that the percentage of students passing an exam can improve from 65 percent to 90 percent in one school year.

If 1 out of 3 students are not even taking the exam how meaningful are these numbers? It just makes no sense to spend all of this money and time on assessments of teachers and schools if the data collected is corrupt.

Any insight from anyone who may know? It looks like FCPS is engaging is some unethical practices to boost their test scores.

Most of May and June are now devoted to SOL "prep" (aka. "review" or "practice" or "study" or "games") at my kids' elementary school (not the one you mentioned). So yes, it's possible that the scores increased dramatically from one year to the next if that school suddenly implemented a month or two of review before the actual SOLs.

It stinks. The kids who know their stuff (at least mostly) are bored, frustrated, annoyed during the last month or two of school. The kids who don't are under a lot of pressure to do better. None of them learn much of anything new. The teachers ARE teaching to the test. Oh, and from another angle, a lot of paper is being wasted.

As for the # of kids taking the test being greater than the # actually enrolled - probably just a data entry error.

Forgot to add: not to mention, this review & study means the SOLs are NOT, are absolutely NOT measuring what the kids are learning in school during the rest of the year. Whether or not they studied those things the rest of the year, the SOL tests are more about the review.

FCPS mom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Most of May and June are now devoted to SOL "prep"
> (aka. "review" or "practice" or "study" or
> "games") at my kids' elementary school (not the
> one you mentioned). So yes, it's possible that
> the scores increased dramatically from one year to
> the next if that school suddenly implemented a
> month or two of review before the actual SOLs.
>
> It stinks. The kids who know their stuff (at
> least mostly) are bored, frustrated, annoyed
> during the last month or two of school. The kids
> who don't are under a lot of pressure to do
> better. None of them learn much of anything new.
> The teachers ARE teaching to the test. Oh, and
> from another angle, a lot of paper is being
> wasted.
>
> As for the # of kids taking the test being greater
> than the # actually enrolled - probably just a
> data entry error.


Only one comment...teachers always "taught to the test". The only difference now is..it isnt their test.

Bailey's Elementary School-Falls Church.

55% FRM and 45% ESL.

According to VA DOE data:

2007-08 138 3rd graders, yet 67 took the Reading SOL, 95% PASS rate!!

2006-07 137 3rd graders, 129 took the Reading SOL, 65% PASS rate.

2005-06 134 3rd graders, 81 took the Reading SOL, 87% PASS rate.

Why did half of the 3rd graders not take the Reading SOL in 2007-08?

In 2006-07 there was a high take rate and a lousy pass rate.

Does FCPS keep kids from taking this exam to boost their test scores???

Crestwood as a large number of Limited English Proficency (LEP) students. Students identified at "level 1" or "level 2" English language proficiency (ELP) are eligible to take the VGLA assessment - an alternaitve assessment that assesses the student's knowledge of the SOLs based off of a portfolio of information they have completed over the course of the year.

LEP students found eligible can only take the reading assessment through the VGLA.

honesty and integrity? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am in the process of analyzing test data from
> higher poverty schools within FCPS and stumbled on
> some troubling data. Maybe somebody with some
> knowledge of the topic can shed some light on this
> matter.
>
> I looked at test scores from a number of
> elementary schools. I will use Crestwood
> Elementary School in Springfield as an example.
> This is a school with 46% ESL and 64% FRM
> populations.
>
> In 2005-06 there were 58 3rd graders and 41 took
> the SOL Reading test.
> In 2006-07 there were 59 3rd graders and 61 took
> the same test (impossible)
> In 2007-08 there were 54 3rd graders and 36 took
> the smae test.
>
> The percentage taking the exam went from 70 to 100
> and back to 65.
>
> Needless to say the percentage of students shown
> PASSING the SOL Reading test changed
> dramatically.
>
> In 2005-06 74 percent passed, in 2006-07 65
> percent passed and in 2007-08 90 percent passed.
>
> I just cannot believe that the percentage of
> students passing an exam can improve from 65
> percent to 90 percent in one school year.
>
> If 1 out of 3 students are not even taking the
> exam how meaningful are these numbers? It just
> makes no sense to spend all of this money and time
> on assessments of teachers and schools if the data
> collected is corrupt.
>
> Any insight from anyone who may know? It looks
> like FCPS is engaging is some unethical practices
> to boost their test scores.

There is definitely some tomfoolery going around with not everyone taking it and what not. But what is surprising about the percentage changing so dramatically, it's not like it's the same kids being tested just the same grade. So every year they are testing entirely different people, with entirely different skills.

I understand the exemption for the LEP kids who have just come to the US, but I thought that exemption was only like 2 years????

I find it hard to believe that half the 3rd graders at this school just arrived here.

The alternative assessments seem to be a way to get around the whole purpose of NCLB-accountability of the educators-and an apples to apples comparison of how well students are learning.

If I was at VA DOE I would be questioning the low percentage of students taking these tests.

NCLB is a joke in that it is so unrealistic. Under the NAEP scores - a validated, bona fide test, more than 2/3 of the students taking the test fail to meet the proficient level. Of course, no on in his right mind thinks this will really improve by 2014, but heck, since both Bush and Senator Kennedy passed the NLCB statute, it must be right, huh?

Accordingly, all state school systems cheat one way or another. And so I have trouble finding fault singularly with FCPS schools, who in essence are doing what all other sizable systems are doing - which is manipulate or cheat.

This whole crazy system explains the urgent desire of parents to get their kids into the GT programs. These kids pass the tests by osmosis, and can bypass to a considerable extent the teach to the test drill that goes on.

I a not a big fan of NCLB, but understand the need for accountability. It should have been done in a realistic and practical fashion.

NCLB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NCLB is a joke in that it is so unrealistic.
> Under the NAEP scores - a validated, bona fide
> test, more than 2/3 of the students taking the
> test fail to meet the proficient level. Of
> course, no on in his right mind thinks this will
> really improve by 2014, but heck, since both Bush
> and Senator Kennedy passed the NLCB statute, it
> must be right, huh?
>
> Accordingly, all state school systems cheat one
> way or another. And so I have trouble finding
> fault singularly with FCPS schools, who in essence
> are doing what all other sizable systems are doing
> - which is manipulate or cheat.
>
> This whole crazy system explains the urgent desire
> of parents to get their kids into the GT programs.
> These kids pass the tests by osmosis, and can
> bypass to a considerable extent the teach to the
> test drill that goes on.
>
> I a not a big fan of NCLB, but understand the need
> for accountability. It should have been done in a
> realistic and practical fashion.


You have to love those who criticize but have absolutely no suggestions to make something better-why bother to complain at all.

NCLB did many things-primarily it took power away from the teacher's unions. It finally held schools and educators accountability for the billions of taxpayer money they flush down the toilet each year. Parents are now able to see how their district and individual school measure up. Personally, I think test data should be disclosed by class or teacher so we can truly get to the root of the problem-getting rid of dead weight.

For years the schools lied, lied, lied and blamed poverty and bad parenting and any other person they could think of for our failing schools. Now, the spotlight is on them. Do your job. Educate these kids or get the hell out.

You want realistic and practical? Then start firing all the ineffective teachers, start paying for performance and start firing ineffective principals instead of moving them to policy positions-Gatehouse is filled with failed educators that the schools couldn't stand. These are the people dictating to those on the front line-what a joke!

We need to run our schools like a business-everyone earns the right to keep their job.

Va. to drop 3rd-grade history standardized test
May 28, 2009 - 12:47pm

By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON
Associated Press Writer


RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia plans to eliminate its standardized history and social studies examination for third-graders so schools can focus their resources on reading and literacy.

The state Board of Education voted Thursday to end the third-grade social studies Standards of Learning test starting in the upcoming school year. The decision came despite forceful opposition from numerous speakers who argued that doing so would remove the incentive for schools to make sure that those subjects would be taught in early elementary school.

Taking that into consideration, the board also approved an amendment that would require the Department of Education to develop a timetable for incorporating social studies content into its reading assessments.


(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON
Associated Press Writer


Holy crap-what next??

Teachers work 9 months out of the year yet they can't cover all the topics???

Without the SOL, schools will have no incentive to bother with history or social studies.

could it be possible that the 61 was meant to be entered as a 41?

blah blah blah - I agree with many of your points, but I can't agree that NCLB has in any way lessened the power of teachers unions. If anything, they are now politically more powerful than ever. And NLCB has motivated them to do what both they and administrators often do so well - manipulate statistics and lobby to continue their taxpayer sponsored monopoly. (This is not as harsh as it sounds, I believe strongly in public schools; but I also believe that good public schools should not fear competition but should embrace it).

And while I agree with many of your points, FCPS is far from the worst offender in terms of school systems. There are indeed many good teachers in the system here - maybe not surprising in that teaching can be rewarding with good students that desire to learn. Some big city school systems really exist just as employment reservoirs for the community, and do very little to advance the education of the children. (Take your pick, from Detroit to New Orleans to LA to DC and so on). In these districts, while the unions are an obvious problem, so are the majority of the adults in the community. Witness the intractable wall Michelle Rhee is running up against in DC.

And my point still stands. The statute has a goal of total proficiency by 2014. And 70% of students now miss it. And likely 70% will miss it in 2014, because none of the tough steps you prescribe will take place. Not sure what will have been accomplished, other than to highlight the intractability of the problem.

blah blah blah Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> You want realistic and practical? Then start
> firing all the ineffective teachers, start paying
> for performance and start firing ineffective
> principals instead of moving them to policy
> positions-Gatehouse is filled with failed
> educators that the schools couldn't stand. These
> are the people dictating to those on the front
> line-what a joke!
>
> We need to run our schools like a
> business-everyone earns the right to keep their
> job.

Well, we decided to run healthcare like a business, and that's worked wonders.

Colleges and Universities are run like businesses, so lets look at them. I happen to teach at one of our fine, local institutions of higher learning.

I teach undergrad and graduate level classes in a natural science. The introductory class is one of the 4 options that undergrads have to fulfill their 8 hours of natural science credits. Two classes, and two labs in sequence - Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy.

My class average is curved up to a 78 (a high C, which means that the class is, well, average). About 30% of the class fails each semester, and another 10% is in the D range, both of which are not considered high enough to meet the university's standards for passing in a core curriculum class. If they're taking it as an elective, they pass.

So I've got about a 60% success rate with my students, who are paying, or their parents are paying, or you the citizens of the united states are paying through their loans, for this education.

According to your views, I should be fired for being a substandard professor. I did manage to effectively teach to the students who got A's and B's and C's, but the other 40% couldn't pass. Is it my fault that they do not come to class. They do not come to lab. They do not do any of the reading. They do not take notes, even though i do not distribute my powerpoint lectures on my webpage. They do not participate in lab. And, they're PAYING for this. 40% of my students are forking over a substantial amount of money, so they should be very motivated to show up and take notes and participate. So how is it that I am at fault for this, and should be fired? I am not building a car that they are paying for, and then 40% of them have their wheels fall off. They bought tickets to my concert, and 40% of them didn't bother to show up and watch.

You are complaining about teachers being held accountable, but they are not held to the same standards that anyone in a business industry does. Your accountant screws up and invests your life savings in Atari, because he thinks that the nostalgia market is going to pick up and you'll be a member of the landed gentry. Oops, sorry. Enjoy working as a greeter in walmart at age 79. A teacher has a student on a field trip sneak off with some friends to drink beer. They get caught, and the teacher is fired and banned for life because she is responsible for them in loco parentis. You're holding them up to standards that you yourself are not held to.

I will do some investigating, but I would be a bit surprised if 40 percent of college students failed their courses.

If that were so, not many kids would be graduating in 4 years.

As far as holding you accountable for kids showing up to class-that is silly. If a kid wants to go to college that is their choice. Eventually mom and dad will stop footing the bill for Johnny to party and not go to class.

What does trouble me is the kids in their neighborhood school who are stuck with a lousy education. Unmotivated teachers, incompetent administrators, whatever the reason, taxpayers deserve better. FCPS principals are paid quite well-$120k per year-we have every right to demand that they do their job well.

The state created standardized tests (SOL, MSPAP, etc) and they should be a reflection of what our kids are expected to learn in the classroom. If half the kids are failing these tests-then something is wrong. Attendance in school is mandatory-180 days a year. It is inexcusable that half are not being taught the basics.

Spare me the ESL argument-many minorities who speak English fail the reading and writing assessments. Recent data suggests that just 11% of Latinos are first generation-ie recent immigrants. The majority have been here for their entire lives and should not be failing these tests or not taking them at all because the school wants to artificially bump up their average scores.

It would be so refreshing-just ONCE for an educator to come on these message boards and take ownership for all the failures in our education system.

Just ONE. Michelle Rhee has. Joel Klein has. Margaret Spellings got it. We WILL break the unions if we don't they will destroy public education-just like the GM and Ford folks did.

Print
MyFOXNY


A New York City middle school teacher was arrested and charged with statutory rape, accused by police of having sex with a 14-year-old student in a classroom after school.
NEW YORK — A middle school teacher has been arrested after authorities said she had sexual trysts with a 14-year-old student in a Queens classroom after school.

Social studies teacher Melissa Weber was awaiting arraignment late Thursday on rape, sexual abuse and child endangerment charges. Prosecutors don't know whether she has a lawyer, and no telephone number can be found for her home.

Prosecutors say Weber had sex with the boy seven times at M.S./I.S. 8 this month and last. Prosecutors say the teen's mother heard about the liaison Wednesday and found hundreds of contacts with the 27-year-old teacher in her son's cell phone.

City Education Department representatives didn't immediately respond to e-mail messages Thursday night.

Weber faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.


Now why is it our kids are failing if the classrooms are filled with wonderful educators like this?

sketchy stats Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I will do some investigating, but I would be a bit
> surprised if 40 percent of college students failed
> their courses.

Chronicle of Higher Education for this one. It's not avaliable to the public online, but you can go to Mason, Marymount, GW, American or Georgetown's library and get it there. Keep in mind you are looking for introductory gen ed requirement classes. Also, if you're usign a bell curve, mathematically at least 30% of your students are goign to fall in the F/D category. Granted, at a different university than I'm at, a D might be a passing grade.



> If that were so, not many kids would be graduating
> in 4 years.

You're way out of the loop on this one. Unless they're at Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, less than half graduate in 4 years. It goes down to less than 50% for UVA or JMU. Then when you get run of the mill garden variety state schools, you're looking at 20-30% graduating in 4. This has been happening since the mid 90's.

http://www.act.org/news/releases/2009/4-10-09.html

Not the best source, and I don't know if it's not completely free from bias, but it's close enough for limited time, and it's not the Marlboro Institute coming up with cancer statistics





> As far as holding you accountable for kids showing
> up to class-that is silly. If a kid wants to go
> to college that is their choice. Eventually mom
> and dad will stop footing the bill for Johnny to
> party and not go to class.
>
> What does trouble me is the kids in their
> neighborhood school who are stuck with a lousy
> education. Unmotivated teachers, incompetent
> administrators, whatever the reason, taxpayers
> deserve better. FCPS principals are paid quite
> well-$120k per year-we have every right to demand
> that they do their job well.

Is every teacher unmotivated? Is every administrator incompetent? Is it the vast majority of each, or is it even, or are they the visual minority? If the unmotivated teachers are the majority, why are they unmotivated? What turns eager 24 year old fresh faced teachers full of engergy and vigor into chain smoking, Mrs. Krebapple's (Bart's teacher from the simpsons) who sip bootleg hooch while showing another filmstrip?

> The state created standardized tests (SOL, MSPAP,
> etc) and they should be a reflection of what our
> kids are expected to learn in the classroom. If
> half the kids are failing these tests-then
> something is wrong. Attendance in school is
> mandatory-180 days a year. It is inexcusable that
> half are not being taught the basics.
>

If 50% or more are failing a test, (when attendence and participation is mandatory, rather than my case where they just don't show up) then the test or testing method is flawed. No matter who's driving the car, if it runs into a wall 50% of the time, you go back to the drawing board. Perhaps the SOL tests aren't well written, or are poorly designed. Keep in mind, the tests are made up by the same administrators you call incompetant. So you expect them to come up with a proper exam? I have never seen a SOL exam, so I'm generalizing here, but it assumes that all students are equal, and all learn at teh same pace and same material. They are not, which is why you have LD, Regular, GT/AP (Or IB) classes. And they all are expected to absorb the same amount of material in the same amount of time and take the same exam.

>
> It would be so refreshing-just ONCE for an
> educator to come on these message boards and take
> ownership for all the failures in our education
> system.

That's probably because it's not just the educators who are to blame here. You're trying to make it out that it is completely the fault of FCPS for the students failings. I get students from all over the mid-atlantic region, and very few of them are prepared for college. I'm an educator (of sorts), and there are many reasons for this. Yes, some of the teachers are burned out and ineffective. Some of the students are discipline problems who are going to fail no matter what. Some have parents who are blind to their kids issues, and refuse to believe what several teachers and guidance counselors are telling them. Or even worse, that their kids are completely normal, average and the same as 50% of humanity, rather than well on his or her way to being the first astronaut surgeon to win a gold medal in gymnastics while figuring out cold fusion.

My experience over the past 12 years has been that the students I have in my classes do not do well with independent work, give up easily when given a difficult task, and expect at least a B+ just for showing up.

> Just ONE. Michelle Rhee has. Joel Klein has.
> Margaret Spellings got it. We WILL break the
> unions if we don't they will destroy public
> education-just like the GM and Ford folks did.

You do realize that Virginia is a right to work state, and the unions here have absolutlely no power at all? The teacher's union in New York are what you're describing, here they are non-existant. The closest they have ever come to any sort of bargaining power/protection is when Fairfax Education Association instituted the "Work to the Rule" movement back in 1999, which had them working only the hours that were stipulated in their contract, rather than staying extra to help students who needed the extra work. It kind of fell apart, since many teachers felt guilty about abandoning students who really wanted some help.
Most teachers join the national union for the legal protection that they provide when a parent sues them for not teaching their child properly.

You said you were going to do some research on this. I'd hope that you do it properly, and look at all the angles, instead of just focusing on one side of the issues.

According to The Education Trust's website, here are graduation rates for 4 VA colleges. I selected "witin 5 years" to allow for athletes and kids who switch majors.


UVA 91% graduation
VA Tech 75.6% graduation
JMU 78.4% graduation
William and Mary 91% graduation.

Given that you quoted 20-30%, I will assume the rest of your comments are equally inaccurate.

why make it up Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> According to The Education Trust's website, here
> are graduation rates for 4 VA colleges. I
> selected "witin 5 years" to allow for athletes and
> kids who switch majors.
>
>
> UVA 91% graduation
> VA Tech 75.6% graduation
> JMU 78.4% graduation
> William and Mary 91% graduation.
>
> Given that you quoted 20-30%, I will assume the
> rest of your comments are equally inaccurate.

You said 4 years in your previous post. So I gave the numbers for 4 years. Then you give statistics for 5 years.

I also provided a link to my source so you can check my "facts"


I should remind you that I said that the that the numbers start to drop as the colleges get less selective, and you picked the 4 most selective schools in the state, and some of the top schools in the mid-atlantic region, so I added in George Mason, VCU, ODU, and Radford to give it a complete sampling of all PhD (not including JMU) granting institutions in the state, rather than the targeted sample that you provided.
Here's what they are for 4 years:

UVA 82.7
JMU 64.8
VA Tech 51.7
W & M 83
Mason 31
VCU 19.6
ODU 22.8
Radford 34.8
I'm assuming that you got it from this site:

http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/about+the+ed+trust

Which is an education lobbying company. They do not provide links to their data, so there is no way to determine if they were Dept of Education, or came from a non-biased refereed academic journal

Alternative Testing on the Rise
Va. Expands Use of 'Portfolio' to Measure Learning of Challenged Students


By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 8, 2009

For eight days this spring, the Dulles Expo Center was transformed into an industrial grading complex. Boxes of tests were trucked in from schools, unloaded onto pallets into a warehouse and distributed to folding tables, where more than 1,500 Fairfax County teachers and staff worked with sharpened pencils and bar code scanners.

These were not multiple-choice tests that computers grade in seconds. They were thick "portfolio" tests representing a year's worth of student worksheets, quizzes and activities. The time-intensive evaluations have proliferated in recent years in response to the testing requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The District and many states, including Maryland and Virginia, use portfolios for students with serious cognitive disabilities. But Virginia has gone much further, expanding their use for students with learning disabilities or beginning English skills. Statewide, the number of math and reading portfolios submitted for such students nearly doubled in a year, from 15,400 in 2006-07 to more than 30,000 in 2007-08, and state officials predict another jump this school year.

Portfolios have long been used for in-depth evaluations because they can gauge more skills and higher-order thinking. Many educators say the year-long portfolios are a fairer way to measure what some students know than a one-day snapshot.

"We all learn differently," said Patrick K. Murphy, assistant superintendent for accountability in Fairfax schools and Arlington County's incoming superintendent. "We also have to recognize there are different ways people can show proficiency beyond a multiple-choice test."


Pass rates for portfolio tests are relatively high, which helps educators meet academic benchmarks but raises questions about the tests' value in rating schools. Portfolios also are expensive, costing Fairfax more than $500,000 for training and scoring this year alone, not to mention thousands of teacher hours spent compiling them.

The Virginia Grade Level Alternative, one of the state's portfolio tests, is available to some special education students from third to eighth grade who are learning grade-level material but struggle with multiple-choice tests. Someone with severe test anxiety or an information processing disability might be eligible, officials said. A student who might not correctly choose "Answer B: The third U.S. president" for a question about Thomas Jefferson but who could describe Monticello and a president who promoted ideals of freedom yet owned slaves could also be eligible.

The federal government approved Virginia's reading portfolio for beginning English learners in 2007 after protests by local school boards that the regular grade-level test was unfair. The 2002 federal law requires public schools to test students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school. Schools that fail to reach target pass rates for all groups of students, including those with disabilities and English learners, face possible sanctions.

In Northern Virginia, portfolio testing has expanded significantly over two years. About 8,600 math and reading portfolios were compiled in Fairfax this school year, up from 5,900 in 2007-08 and 600 in 2006-07. Similar trends are playing out in Arlington and in Prince William and Loudoun counties.

Pass rates have increased in part because school systems have grown more comfortable compiling portfolios. Last school year, 94 percent of Fairfax students evaluated through portfolios passed in reading, and 84 percent passed in math, up from 79 percent and 70 percent, respectively, in 2006-07. Statewide, 87 percent of such students passed in reading and math last school year, up from 81 percent and 84 percent the year before.

Assembling the portfolios is a feat. Throughout the year, teachers compile worksheets, quizzes, audio or video clips and other examples of what students have learned. Third-grade math teachers documented that students understood 93 concepts, including some at first- or second-grade levels. One six-inch binder was filled with activity sheets that showed how a student used Goldfish crackers to count by twos and compared piles of cubes to demonstrate the concepts "more than" and "less than."

It took a full day for two scorers at the Expo Center to evaluate two or three third-grade math binders, with both independently scoring each piece of evidence. Scores were checked by "bubblers," who transferred the results onto Scantron sheets, which were then double-checked by "double-bubblers" before the binders were loaded back into boxes and shipped out again.

Many parents and teachers say portfolios have improved instruction and ensure that special education students are exposed to an entire year's curriculum, not a shortened version.

That is reassuring to Tia Marsili of Vienna, whose eighth-grade daughter has Down syndrome. "If you cannot show me what you have been doing," she said, "I'm afraid she has not learned the content."

Leonard Bumbaca, president of the Fairfax Education Association, said portfolios are also better in evaluating a teacher's effectiveness than a standardized test. But he warned that the process is "overloading teachers." Some teachers are also feeling pressure to use portfolios more often to achieve high pass rates, Bumbaca said. "Teacher time is a scarce resource," he said. "We don't think it's the best decision . . . to apply this test broadly."

State and local officials say they are monitoring portfolio testing to ensure that it is not overused or misused.

Andrea Rosenthal of Oak Hill, the mother of a Fairfax special education student, said high pass rates on portfolio tests are often misleading because many children who score well on them are far below grade level on other measures. "It benefits the state, not the child, to say they are at grade level when they are not," Rosenthal said.



Now we know why the scores are going up..............

iz in yo offesses with a redz penz remarkin yo testz

honesty and integrity? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am in the process of analyzing test data from
> higher poverty schools within FCPS and stumbled on
> some troubling data. Maybe somebody with some
> knowledge of the topic can shed some light on this
> matter.
>
>

Why bother? Since you have already concluded that it is "fraudulent test data," why get information that may contradict your conclusion?

Washington LOCO-

How stupid are you???

The kids can't pass the tests so now they are doing this alternative assessment.

FCPS is desperate to show higher pass rates so they are dragging in all kinds of kids for this portfolio testing who clearly do not belong there.

Alternative assessments are for kids with SERIOUS COGNITIVE ABILITIES-not any kid who is unable to pass an SOL.

This gamesmanship is unethical, immoral and produces dishonest and fraudulent testing results.

oh shallow one Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Washington LOCO-
>
> How stupid are you???
>
> The kids can't pass the tests so now they are
> doing this alternative assessment.


Do you know what criteria are being used to determine who qualifies for what test? Do you have that information in hand? Do you know the case-by-case basis? No? Then you don't have sufficient information to conclude anything. As for the 59/61, ever think that kids may take a test but then get moved to another school?

A comment from a teacher on the WAPO article-


xenocyclus1 wrote:
As a special education teacher who has put together too many VGLA binders, I can say with all honesty that this is an abused system. Principals look at the VGLA as a golden goose that can lay the golden AYP. Most of the time the kids using this type of portfolio are in multiple sub-groups, the categories most likely to kill a school's chance at reaching AYP. Teachers are being coerced, and often forced against professional recommendations, to VGLA (yes, it has become a verb) a child.

The schools that are proficient at creating these portfolios and scoring the grades are becoming "binder mills" whereby a child is given a worksheet over and over and over and over again until the child reaches a grade acceptable for placement in the portfolio because the worksheets being used have passed muster before and so will pass muster again!

The vast majority of my kids are VGLA'd. I am confident they will all pass. Have they learned a single thing they should have from this year? No.

There is a place for the VGLA. About 2% of the population truly does have a need for a non-standardized test. Most often these are the kids who can make high-level connections and inferences, but have a processing or sensory motor disability that prevents them from demonstrating their knowledge on a multiple choice longitudinal test. For these kids, the VGLA is a fantastic way to allow these kids to demonstrate their knowledge. That being said, not one of my kids VGLA'd this year falls into this category.

The testing system is fucked up, no doubt. But complying with a fucked up system isn't the same as "fraudulent test data."

This is a disgrace.

FCPS will go after a kid who plagarizes or who cheats on a test, but they cheat openly and freely.

The SPIRIT of the NCLB testing requirements allows SOME students to be exempted from the standardized testing due to disabilities or language challenges. The law does not permit this in your face cheating and disregard for what these test results represent.

SHAME SHAME SHAME on this "highly respected" school district.

I suggest these kids be dually tested on SOLs and this alternative assessments so we can at least know the true results of these tests. Let's then examine why such a high percentage of kids who have no chance of passing are steered toward these other testing formats.

SpecialEdTeacher wrote:
I was one of the 1500 teachers the article talked about. I am a special education teacher who graded math portfolios. All but one portfolio that I graded probably passed and that was because the teacher had failed to include all the areas necessary for the student. I was told both last year and this year that "there is no way a child should not pass the VGLA" and if they did not, "It was the teacher's fault." Last year I put together nine portfolios and only two of them passed. I taught the standards and I worked after school with the ones who were having difficulty grasping the concepts they needed to pass. Foolishly, I thought this is what I should do. Some students just did not get it. It would have been easy to give the students the answers but this went against every thing I believed.


I feel bad for these teachers-the union should stand up to Dale and his henchmen.

Fairfaxresident3 wrote:
The comment about the VGLA being the "golden goose that can lay the golden AYP" is 100% accurate. The pressure from "above" that is passed on to the teachers from the principals increases with each year. Each binder takes HOURS and HOURS to put together, and is more labor-intensive than you can imagine, and these binders do not even come CLOSE to being an accurate representation of what the student can do. Teachers are getting very skillful at assembling the binders now, since the number of them increases each year, and the higher your pass rate, the more you'll have to do the next year, because it's the EASY way out for the principals.
Each teacher, and anyone else having a direct hand in the "process," must sign an affadavit stating that ONLY work "completed solely by the student in the presence of a teacher or other authorized school personnel" is included in the binder. The affadavit also states "I have not fabricated, altered, or modified student work, products, or data," and must be signed by the classroom teacher. Last year, I personally witnessed a teacher putting transparencies of worksheets (math) on the overhead projector, filling in the answers as the students copied them, and saying "This is the way your worksheet should look." They were collected, graded, and put in the binder. Every worksheet from that class was identical. Every student passed, with a Pass Advanced. The next year, these same students were unable to perform the simplest and most basic math problems. Did I report it? Yes. Was anything done? No.
The last comment I'll make about the dreaded VGLA is that the math teachers were taken out of the classroom and sent to "Grading Central" to score the binders..... the week before the math SOL was given. I wish someone could show me the logic in that.
I'm in support of alternative grading for students who genuinely need it, but to use the VGLA as the magic answer to AYP is wrong, all the way around. The biggest losers are the students.
6/8/2009 8:33:11 AM


These idiots running our school district need to go!!

Does a student have to have an IEP in order to qualify for alternative assessments?

A student has to have an IEP to qualify for VGLA.

Anecdotally, special ed teachers are reporting that PRINCIPALS are handing them a list of who should doing VGLA - based on who failed the SOL (which is explicitly counter to the regulations involving VGLA). They are then told they are expected to build a passing portfolio, preferably an "advanced proficient" portfolio. This means two things:

- VGLA is more a function of the skill of the portfolio builder than anything else

- There is NO accountability for these students, as they are not being measured. VGLA IS NOT providing a measure of their progress. What it IS doing is taking up valuable teaching time so schools can make their AYP numbers.

Passing VGLA is equivalent to saying the child is at grade (or above) grade level. There are some students who are at grade level but don't do well with multiple choice, but let's face it - what proportion of YOUR VGLA students are at grade level? Yet with VGLA, disabled students often OUTPERFORM their non-disabled peers.

The Washington Post doesn't care.

The FEA doesn't care.

The teachers fear that if they buck the system, they'll be out of a job.

The principals are afraid that if they follow the VGLA guidelines, their test scores will trail that of neighboring schools.

The politicians like the spin that NCLB is working - even if it's just playing the game.

The high schools are going crazy - receiving kids who look like they are at grade level according to the tests, but aren't even close.

And some parents believe what the schools are telling them - that their child really IS at grade level, even when their IEP goals are far below grade level.

If a child has goals 3 or 4 or more years below grade level, isn't it stupid to test them at grade level? Why not test at the level they are at, or better yet, measure their PROGRESS over the past year?

The children are getting hurt. The "individualized" portion of their IEP is lost. Instead of being taught, their teachers' time is spent looking for just the right worksheet that the child can do just this once to prove "mastery" of a skill.

The only ones that can stop this are the teachers. I was hoping the press would be willing to expose it, but they won't. Maybe as teachers retire, they can take an active voice and demand of the FEA that they stop teachers from being force to lie and being turned into glorified scrapbookers.

Any special education child that fails an SOL is put on VGLA. Then the child never again gets the opportunity to be measured.

Sickening.

Time for some bravery folks-and I am willing to step up to the plate.

My daughter has an IEP and has failed virtually every SOL since 3rd grade. This year she was "VGLAed". I was naive. I assumed that the school was looking out for my daughter's best interest-how sillyof me.

The principal told me that she achieved "pass advanced" in her VGLA reading assessment. WHAT A MIRACLE!!!!!

I have requested a copy of the "collection of evidence" that was submitted. I am copying her IEP-which states she is TWO YEARS BELOW GRADE LEVEL IN READING, and I am filing a greivance with Arnie Duncan at DOE and The Virginia Department of Education. FCPS is basically saying FU to NCLB and all the accountability provisions that it stands for-this is disgraceful.

FCPS-the games will be ending soon-you can count on it. I am going to show how corrupt your system is. Expect Chandler and The Post to follow up on this topic very soon.

Good luck getting the Post to follow up. They don't like to upset Dale or the school board.

I think we should do away with the SOL's in general. My year was the first graduating class that it was required to take the test in order to graduate. I know myself, my class mates, and my teachers were not fans of this. It took time away from actual learning and basically made our classes into an SAT prep course.

Kenny_Powers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think we should do away with the SOL's in
> general. My year was the first graduating class
> that it was required to take the test in order to
> graduate. I know myself, my class mates, and my
> teachers were not fans of this. It took time away
> from actual learning and basically made our
> classes into an SAT prep course.


What else is there??? We have to have some "apples to apples" comparison of how kids are doing in School A vs School B.

Every state creates their own test (although a few smarter states have joined forces and combined their test). The educrats ahave a say in what the test is. I honestly don't get this "teach to the test" crap and these tests are meaningless.

Either we amend the test to better reflect the grade level material or we change what is being taught in the classroom. I urge people to go to VA DOE website and look at the released SOL exams from prior years. The questions are not that "out there" and I do not have a problem with this way of assessing kids at all.

If a school has 50% of 5th graders failing the history SOL then there is something wrong in THAT SCHOOL. Time to bring in the broom!!

To had enough -

Excellent, and thank you! I just wrote a letter to Secretary Duncan myself, outlining everything I mentioned, and they determined the issues were relevant to the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and forwarded my correspondence. Please send anything you sent to Mr. Duncan to oese@ed.gov. The more people that speak up, the better. Our kids deserve education, rather than their days wasted doing worksheets to play the Adequate Yearly Progress game! Our teachers deserve respect, rather than being forced to play this game!

Thanks for helping our kids!

If I was a Board of Supervisor member I would be asking Jack Dale how much taxpayer money he wastes on his little game of trying to avoid the accountability provisions of No Child Left Behind.

Time to withold money from the next budget so FCPS can't waste ONE MILLION DOLLARS renting out the Dulless EXPO Center to engage in this trickery.

How about if the kids just fill in the dots like everyone else on SOL testing day? Let's see how these schools look once we see the actual pass rates instead of this artificially inflated pass rates?

I feel bad for all the teachers being forced by their principals to game the system. Someone in The Accountability Office needs to be held accountability for this immoral policy. It is digraceful.

I completely agree. The Office of Accountability is a farce. It's the fox watching the henhouse. Short of the threat of criminal charges or a media investigation, I don't see a change. Unfortunately the media couldn't give a darn about our kids. I'm a regular writer to the Washington Post. Maybe if a few others drop a note, they'll open their eyes.

Think VGLA is a farce? Think it's unfair to teachers? Think it takes away instructional time? Please read and comment here!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2009/07/assessing_students_with_disabi.html

N.Va. Students Improve, But Schools Fall Short

By Nick Anderson and Emma Brown
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, August 14, 2009



Roughly nine of every 10 public school students in Northern Virginia passed the state's reading and math tests in the spring, with achievement gaps narrowing and passing rates edging upward or holding steady across the region.

Yet data released Thursday show that more schools in the region and statewide are falling short of academic targets that rise steadily each year. Many educators are wondering how much more improvement is possible under a federal rating system that essentially demands perfect performance in the next five years.

"I'm definitely worried about that," said Patricia I. Wright, state superintendent of public instruction. "That's a question being raised all over the country, in terms of whether or not 100 percent proficiency by 2014 is a realistic statistical goal. All of us agree that's an educational goal that we want to stand by."

Said Fairfax County Superintendent Jack D. Dale: "We'll all max out at something less than 100 percent."

The data show that 525 Virginia schools, or 28 percent, failed to make adequate progress under federal education law in 2008-09. In the previous year, 479 schools, or 26 percent, fell short.

At the same time, data from the Virginia Department of Education show that the percentages of students who met or exceeded proficiency in reading and math rose. Eighty-nine percent passed the Standards of Learning reading tests, up from 87 percent in 2008. And 86 percent passed the math tests, up from 84 percent.

In Loudoun and Fairfax counties, 93 percent passed in reading and 90 percent in math. Those rates mirrored or slightly outpaced last year's results. Trends were similar in other Northern Virginia school systems. In Prince William and Arlington counties, 90 percent passed in reading; the rates for math were 87 percent in Prince William and 86 percent in Arlington. In Alexandria, 85 percent passed in reading, 76 percent in math.

The share of Fairfax schools making adequate yearly progress rose from 74 to 81 percent. But elsewhere in the region, those ratings fell. Seventy percent of Arlington's schools made adequate progress last year; this year, 57 percent. In Loudoun, 96 percent of schools made adequate progress last year; this year, 77 percent. Arlington and Loudoun officials said that some schools fell short based on the scores of a handful of students.

The disparity of rising student scores and the falling school ratings stems from a goal that many experts say is unattainable: universal student proficiency.

Under the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law, public schools must give annual reading and math tests in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. They must also show progress toward a goal of having all students pass those tests by 2014, with target passing rates rising steadily over time.

As a result, schools that make the grade one year might fall short the next even if they have identical or slightly better test results. Target passing rates in Virginia rose four points this year, to 81 percent in reading and 79 percent in math. Next year, the targets will rise four more points.

In an effort to close achievement gaps, the law also requires progress among students from racial and ethnic minorities, those with disabilities and those with limited English skills.

For school officials, the stakes are high. Failing to make adequate yearly progress is a public relations blow. And schools that receive federal poverty aid and fail to make adequate progress two or more years in a row face an escalating series of possible interventions, including allowing students to transfer and overhauling school management.

States are allowed to design tests and set passing scores, so standards vary widely.

Within the next year or two, Congress is expected to consider revisions to the federal law that would significantly reshape testing and school accountability rules. The Obama administration is calling for higher standards but more flexibility for states to achieve them. President Obama said last month in an interview with The Washington Post that many school districts "actually water down state standards in order to appear like they were meeting them."

Test results in Northern Virginia show that black and Hispanic students, who have historically trailed white students in achievement, were closing those gaps. In Fairfax, gaps in test scores between black and white students shrank 3 percentage points in reading (to 13 points) and 4 percentage points in math (to 15 points). Black-white scoring disparities also narrowed slightly statewide.

Statewide, students with disabilities gained 6 percentage points in reading and math. In some Washington area school systems, the gains were larger. The passing rate in Prince William for students with disabilities rose by 13 percentage points in reading and 14 points in math. For Alexandria students with disabilities, the passing rate in math jumped 16 points; in reading, 23 points.

Amy Carlini, a spokeswoman for Alexandria schools, attributed the gains largely to the increasing number of special education students whose achievement was measured through a portfolio of work, known as the Virginia Grade Level Assessment, rather than the usual multiple-choice test.

At Patrick Henry Elementary School in Alexandria, the reading passing rate for students with disabilities rose from 21 percent in 2008 to 88 percent this year.

Using the portfolio "took the anxiety of the test away from the students," Assistant Principal Nancy Veliz said.

State education spokesman Charles Pyle said that the use of such portfolios by special education students did not affect overall test results and that the portfolios are no less rigorous than regular tests.

This entire issue is around children with disabilities. This is the subset that keeps schools from making Adequate Yearly Progress. Expecting children with disabilities to perform at grade level as a group is stupid, and it's not even in the best interest of the child. The way to measure a student with disabilities is to look at their progress, not a benchmark that is unattainable.

This system has turned our teachers into liars. The purpose of VGLA was to provide an alternative to children performing at GRADE LEVEL who don't demonstrate their knowledge via multiple choice tests. Now it is being pushed on kids well below grade level, because schools can game the system so the kids can pass by providing just the right worksheet, and giving it over and over, in groups, with help, until the child picks the right answers once - then the child is considered "proficient" in the skill. THIS HURTS CHILDREN. Massive amounts of time and money ($500,000 last year in FFX Cty just for training and scoring) is used on this farce, instead of being used to teach children.

I am so disappointed in Charles Pyle, Jack Dale and the principals of this county for playing this game instead of doing the right thing. They have forced their teachers to become scrapbookers and liars, and have devalued their profession. They have disregarded real education of the disabled in favor of looking good in The Post.

Shame on you all.

The "portfolios of work" being submitted for special ed and ESL students, in place of the standardized tests, are indeed less rigorous. For one thing, everybody cheats on them. The teachers know that the students have to pass, even if their skill level is nowhere near grade level, so they just feed the kids the answers. They really have no choice but to do this. It is not a true test of anything. It is a big joke!

I was recently reading the School Improvement Plan for 2008-09 for Olde Creek Elem School-principal is Melissa Kuperschmid.

She has a serious plan to help her struggling students.

From page 6- "This year there are 19 SWD or LEP students who did not pass the SOL or who came close to not passing. These students are being considered for the VGLA."

Page 10-for strategy to achieve the objective of (1) increasing pass rates in math for SPED kids from 55% to 79%. (2) increase pass rates in reading for SPED from 65% to 81%. Let's guess what her strategy is....smaller class sizes? after-school help? personalized instruction based on individual need? No, NO, NO, silly folks. Her answer: "VAAP and VGLA will be used as alternative assessments for those students who qualify".

This is a major nono. These alternative tests are ONLY for students who struggle with multiple choice answers but who demonstrate grade level proficiency. Is she suggested that any kid with an IEP in this school who did not pass the SOL will now take the VGLA?

I hope not.

From Providence Elem School 2008-09 School Improvement Plan-principal Joy Hanbury.

Give it up for Joy......let's see how she helps her students learn.

Page 4-Goal for students on Reading SOL 3-6 for disabled kids pass rate will exceed 77%. The actual pass rate was 86%-whoooeee. How did she do it? Quote, "students who qualified for the VGLA took the assessment. We will continue to administer the VGLA to appropriate students. Joy-could you define appropriate? Any kid with an IEP maybe?

Page 8- "68 LEP and SPED students participated in the Reading VGLA in 2008. ALL (yes, ALL) of the students achieved passing or passed advanced scores. Many of these students failed their SOL tests in the past".

There you have it. It is a miracle. One year all these kids are failing their SOLs-the next year they are all advanced on their grade level assessment.

Your tax dollars at work folks.

These schools need to show AYP uncer NCLB. Theya re supposed to give these kids addistional academic support to help them. Instead, they are steered toward the VGLA, so that the school can say they are all passing.

Lastly, page 12, "The success rate for VGLA math students was 100% this year". That is odd, given that the overall pass rate for all students was just 37% for 5th grade and 22% for 6th grade.

These VGLAs are MAGIC.

From Lanier Middle School-principal Scott Poole.

Scott has it tough-many of his students were struggling academically. At one point he syas that the math teachers do not have a connection to their students and it is hurting their achievement. His solution??

Page 25-Goal for SOL pass rate in reading for SPED kids was from 49% to 69%. He blew that out-achieving a pass rate of 79%. THIRTY PERCENTAGE POINT INCREASE IN ONE YEAR! Not bad from teachers who are not connected to their students.
Black students SOL Reading goal was from 67% pass to 77% pass-he delivered! The result was actually 88%. Holy cow!
Hispanic students pass rate goal was from 66% to 77%-actual number 93%!!

Before I tell you how he did this, I think we need to send him and his ideas to every Fairfax County school so they can have these same results. This needs to be shared with the masses.

But wait, when asked how he achieved his goal, his comments; "Supported: VGLA for Reading. Inhibited: We did not do the VGLA for math" (damn, Scott, what were you thinking, dude?).

No VGLA for Math! What were the scores?

SPED 7th grade SOL Math pass rate went DOWN from 31% to 26%

Black students from 34% to just 39%

His ideas for ongoing improvement efforts, "WE MUST IMPLEMENT THE VGLA IN MATH". And, "Need to do the VGLA, badly".

It is like a drug for these educators. They aren't addicted to meth or coke, they need their VGLA fix.

YOU are addicted! Get a life. Your obsession has gotten out of hand. Try dating, or at least working. Or AA. The masses don't give a rat's butt about all this crap.

my personal favorite Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From Lanier Middle School-principal Scott Poole.
>
> Scott has it tough-many of his students were
> struggling academically. At one point he syas that
> the math teachers do not have a connection to
> their students and it is hurting their
> achievement. His solution??
>
> Page 25-Goal for SOL pass rate in reading for SPED
> kids was from 49% to 69%. He blew that
> out-achieving a pass rate of 79%. THIRTY
> PERCENTAGE POINT INCREASE IN ONE YEAR! Not bad
> from teachers who are not connected to their
> students.
> Black students SOL Reading goal was from 67% pass
> to 77% pass-he delivered! The result was actually
> 88%. Holy cow!
> Hispanic students pass rate goal was from 66% to
> 77%-actual number 93%!!
>
> Before I tell you how he did this, I think we need
> to send him and his ideas to every Fairfax County
> school so they can have these same results. This
> needs to be shared with the masses.
>
> But wait, when asked how he achieved his goal, his
> comments; "Supported: VGLA for Reading. Inhibited:
> We did not do the VGLA for math" (damn, Scott,
> what were you thinking, dude?).
>
> No VGLA for Math! What were the scores?
>
> SPED 7th grade SOL Math pass rate went DOWN from
> 31% to 26%
>
> Black students from 34% to just 39%
>
> His ideas for ongoing improvement efforts, "WE
> MUST IMPLEMENT THE VGLA IN MATH". And, "Need to do
> the VGLA, badly".
>
> It is like a drug for these educators. They
> aren't addicted to meth or coke, they need their
> VGLA fix.


And this endless junk is your fix. Tell it to Stu Gibson. Let us know what he says. Unless you think this will seal his fate in 2011? LOL

No one cares, not even Stuy.

Non-English speakers post low reading scores in Fairfax

By: William C. Flook
Examiner Staff Writer

August 24, 2007 FAIRFAX — Fairfax County students at the bottom rungs of English proficiency performed dismally on Virginia’s standardized tests, with only 35 percent of fourth-graders and only 12 percent of eighth-graders passing, according to Standards of Learning test results unveiled Thursday.

"It’s an extremely low pass rate, which is not a great shock because the kids don’t understand English," Deputy Superintendent Richard Moniuszko said at a news conference.

Last school year was the first in which the federal government compelled Virginia to test the reading skills of non-English-speaking students alongside their native counterparts.

The tests were given to students from third to eighth grade who had been in the country longer than a year.

As a substitute to those assessments, Fairfax school administrators pursued the "Virginia Grade Level Alternative" to give a different picture of performance.

The VGLA, which relies on work samples from the students, was implemented as a pilot program this year in six Fairfax schools and netted nearly 97 percent pass rates, according to Moniuszko.

For schools that adopt the VGLA standards, the more positive test results will make them appear to be performing better under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Virginia schools were forced to conduct the grade-level reading testing after a quarrel with the U.S. Department of Education. The agency told Virginia during the last school year that its prior, more flexible system of measuring English reading ability would not meet the standards of No Child Left Behind.

Fairfax was not alone in posting low reading test scores for low-level limited-English students. Only one in four of the students in Arlington County passed, according to a spokesman. Alexandria also expected poor results.

"It’s nonsensical for a youngster that doesn’t speak English to demonstrate mastery of a test that’s about English and reading," said Monte Dawson, executive director of monitoring and evaluation for Alexandria Public Schools.

Fairfax officials did find encouraging results as students progressed through English instruction. At the highest levels, students performed in the 80th and 90th percentiles.

wflook@dcexaminer.com


So 2 years ago, only 12% of 8th graders passed the math SOLs and now 75% passed.

WOW- we should have a lot of kids heading off to the Ivy League schools with this dramatic improvement in just 2 years.

From Pat Murphy's TEST NOTES May 2009 Issue:

3 truckloads carrying 1000 boxes of the binders for the alternative testing were used.

FCPS used 600 scorers and 150 support staff--who was teaching the kids in the classrooms??

6000 reading, 500 history, 100 science, 100 writing and 2000 math binders were assembled by teachers (average time to assemble a binder=25 hours).

900 VAAP binders also for a grand total of......9600 binders!!!!!

Dulles Expo Center was rented out for Monday, May 5th thru Friday May 8th and again from May 19-21st.

Ok, time to add this up folks.......3 truckloads, 750 employees, and nearly 10,000 binders over a 9 day period.

I am guesstimating $2-3 million in costs-which will now become an ongoing annual expense.

Any elementary school parent that does not have all day K in their school, now knows why. This unnecessary expense would pay for all day K in 10 elementary schools.

I can answer your question. The county has created an "alternative" to taking the SOL test for many of our students that have previously failed the SOL or might have a possibility of failing the test. It is called VGLA. It is a binder filled with a child's work showing that they can meet each standard on the SOL. Classroom teachers are now required to fill these binders throughout the year with proof of each passing standard. The majority of the teachers are NOT happy with this because it creates a TON of extra work for them and often is not an accurate example of what the child is really capable of doing on their own. Often teachers will review one strand of information over and over until the child's work will meet with a passing grade. It can be tedious and exhausting to the child and teacher.

Some classrooms have up to ten or more students with a VGLA binder. The county and schools like them because it "appears" that these children are meeting the requirements to pass the SOL tests. However, if the children were to actually take the test (with it read to them, which is no longer an option for the reading SOL) they would fail. I have witnessed students that received a 300 on an SOL (400 is passing) pass it the following year when given a VGLA binder.

Unfortunately, a large portion of the school year is focused on reviewing and teaching to the test. Many teacher have eliminated classroom projects and fun, engaging lessons they once taught because the county has forced them to focus on reviewing released SOL questions from previous tests. It's very sad, but not the teachers' fault. You should forward your concerns/complaints to the higher ups as teachers have no control over this issue. In fact, many teachers are leaving the county because of the stress that is put on them to make sure their students do well on the SOL tests. Sad, but true. Hope this helps.

Shelly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can answer your question. The county has
> created an "alternative" to taking the SOL test
> for many of our students that have previously
> failed the SOL or might have a possibility of
> failing the test. It is called VGLA. It is a
> binder filled with a child's work showing that
> they can meet each standard on the SOL. Classroom
> teachers are now required to fill these binders
> throughout the year with proof of each passing
> standard. The majority of the teachers are NOT
> happy with this because it creates a TON of extra
> work for them and often is not an accurate example
> of what the child is really capable of doing on
> their own. Often teachers will review one strand
> of information over and over until the child's
> work will meet with a passing grade. It can be
> tedious and exhausting to the child and teacher.
>
>
> Some classrooms have up to ten or more students
> with a VGLA binder. The county and schools like
> them because it "appears" that these children are
> meeting the requirements to pass the SOL tests.
> However, if the children were to actually take the
> test (with it read to them, which is no longer an
> option for the reading SOL) they would fail. I
> have witnessed students that received a 300 on an
> SOL (400 is passing) pass it the following year
> when given a VGLA binder.
>
> Unfortunately, a large portion of the school year
> is focused on reviewing and teaching to the test.
> Many teacher have eliminated classroom projects
> and fun, engaging lessons they once taught because
> the county has forced them to focus on reviewing
> released SOL questions from previous tests. It's
> very sad, but not the teachers' fault. You should
> forward your concerns/complaints to the higher ups
> as teachers have no control over this issue. In
> fact, many teachers are leaving the county because
> of the stress that is put on them to make sure
> their students do well on the SOL tests. Sad, but
> true. Hope this helps.



I am confused. I thought the union was supposed to protect their flock.

Where are they?

Teachers don't want to do the VGLA. It is basically cheating by cooking the numbers and making all the kids pass and they do nothing.

Kind of cowardly, if you ask me. It is a shame that noone cares about how this impacts the kids.

More and more people are caring. The Washington Post is starting to look at this issue, and is looking for teachers willing to speak up. If you are willing, please email me offline at awremail@yahoo.com and I will put you in touch with a very reputable reporter who is investigating this.

Alternative test may inflate score gains
'PORTFOLIO' EXAMS SPREAD IN VA.
'How do you know we are closing the . . . gap?'

By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 19, 2009



Lynbrook Elementary School, which serves one of the poorest communities in Fairfax County, seems to be a model for reform. Three years ago, the Springfield school failed to meet state testing goals in English. Since then, it has charted double-digit gains in passing rates for every one of its closely monitored racial and ethnic groups of students.

But the success at Lynbrook and other schools throughout the state is not only due to better teaching. More and more, students who have struggled to pass Virginia's Standards of Learning exams are taking different tests.

The trend dates to 2007, when federal officials approved an alternative assessment after the Fairfax School Board threatened to defy a mandate to give multiple-choice reading tests to students who were destined to fail -- students who, like many at Lynbrook, were just beginning to learn English.

The Virginia Grade Level Alternative, like the multiple-choice test, assesses students' understanding of the state academic standards. Teachers document learning throughout the year in a binder of class work, including worksheets, quizzes and writing samples. Some special education students and non-native speakers in early stages of learning English are eligible for the portfolio, but final decisions are made by committees of educators and often parents.

Educators say the "portfolio" tests are valuable teaching tools and fairer and more meaningful than multiple-choice tests. With more time and flexibility, students have seen their passing rates soar.

Since 2007, Lynbrook's reading passing rate for students learning English shot from 52 to 94 percent. Among special education students, the rate went from 34 to 100 percent. At the same time, the number of portfolios increased from a handful to more than 100, including nearly half of the English learners and 78 percent of students with disabilities. All passed. The school had more than 460 students last year.

With more students taking the new test, many schools are showing sudden surges in performance. And some parents are concerned the portfolios are muddling scores the public relies on to see how racial and ethnic groups of students are performing and how they compare.

"How do you know we are closing the achievement gap, because thousands of our kids are not being tested the same way?" said Maria Allen, a Fairfax parent and longtime advocate for minority students.

Success at a cost

The remarkable gains at Lynbrook fit into a picture of ever-greater success in the region's largest school system. Fairfax Superintendent Jack D. Dale announced record highs in test scores and impressive progress in narrowing achievement gaps this fall. He attributed the progress to "a powerful shift" toward more personalized instruction systemwide.

Dale, who helped lead the fight to provide an alternative test for those beginning to learn English, said portfolios produce more accurate results that are consistent with how non-native speakers perform on multiple-choice tests once they master English. "We are seeing the same great improvement in our kids and our teachers no matter what instrument you look at," Dale said.

In an era of high-stakes testing, school leaders walk a tightrope. They must balance a lofty mandate to measure all students according to the same high expectations with a reality of classrooms filled with children who have trouble processing basic information or who recently arrived from another country. Every state makes some allowances for students who cannot meet testing requirements.

Maryland officials permit students who fail an exit exam required for graduation to do a project instead. District schools offer a "read aloud" accommodation for students with disabilities during reading tests, but began to dial back the program this spring after education officials found it was being overused. Most states offer alternative tests for students with serious cognitive disabilities.

Virginia's move to expand its use of portfolios to include students who are learning grade-level skills is unusual. It's costly. Fairfax spent more than $500,000 to train teachers and score portfolios last year, not to mention thousands of hours of teacher time compiling them. It's also risky. Experts say blending the results of different tests is very difficult. Closely watched trend lines and the accountability system's credibility are at stake.

"Schools or districts that are administering more of these alternative assessments may look better than those who are using fewer, and it may not have anything to do with the quality of the program," said Joan Herman, director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA.

Virginia education officials say they have worked hard to make the tests comparable in rigor and scoring. A Virginia Commonwealth University study found that both tests are "well aligned" to the same academic standards, and the federal government has scrutinized and approved the alternative test.

But rollout has been uneven as the number of portfolios in Virginia has more than doubled to 47,000 in the past three years. Richmond, a district with about 23,000 students, administered nearly 3,800 portfolios last year; Loudoun, a district of 57,000, collected fewer than 1,000.

Fairfax, with 169,000 students last year, compiled 9,440 portfolios, up from 700 three years ago. The number represents about 2 percent of the total assessments given in Fairfax last year and about 6 percent of reading and math tests given in elementary and middle school. High school students are not eligible for the portfolio.

Students excel

Last year, students tested with portfolios outperformed classmates who took multiple-choice tests in Fairfax. Students with disabilities surpassed schoolwide pass rates in reading or math tests in more than a dozen schools. Students learning English were far more likely to score in the highest performance tier on the reading test, which measures knowledge of language arts concepts such as metaphor and plot, than their native-speaking peers. Overall, English-learners and students with disabilities charted 20- and 18-point gains respectively in reading pass rates, compared to a six-point gain for the division.

At Weyanoke Elementary School near Annandale, a third of students were tested with reading portfolios last year, up from none three years ago. Passing rates jumped from 41 to 100 percent for students with disabilities, from 69 to 97 percent for English learners, and from 66 to 91 percent for black students (more than a quarter of whom were tested with portfolios).

Principals at Weyanoke and Lynbrook say that the boost in scores has gone hand in hand with improvements in instruction and that portfolios help teachers focus on students' unique learning styles.

Weyanoke teacher Candy Kwiecinski is assembling about 10 portfolios for students in her fourth-grade class this year. One October afternoon, she taught a lesson on dictionary skills and how to use guide words at the top of the page. Some students might see a question on guide words next spring on a multiple-choice test. Others were tested that day.

A work sheet asking for examples of guide words could go in the portfolio. Or if it that proves too challenging, Kwiecinski can ask a student to explain what they are or whether they can select examples of guide words from an assortment of flashcards. Her job is to find the right way to teach and to test each student.

Last year, 100 percent of the portfolios at Weyanoke received passing scores. That does not mean the students who took them are the school's top performers, Kwiecinski said; it means they all learned the curriculum.

The portfolios show that her students "are learning the exact same things in different ways," she said.

If only The Post had dug deeper. Students with disabilities outperform their typical peers - doesn't ANYBODY see something wrong with this? Does anybody really believe VGLA, as it is administered today with the same worksheet given again and again, is a measure of what a child learned? And by learned, I don't mean regurgitated five minutes after exposure - I mean LEARNED.

Why doesn't anyone ask why kids with disabilities can pass VGLA but only a fraction actually graduate High School? Do they suddenly and coincidentally fall behind after 8th grade, or is there just no way for the schools to fudge their performance after that?

Sol time

Unfortunately, almost every metric put in place by government or others (like Jay Matthews) can eventually be fudged or manipulated. And it all comes at a heavy price. The only solution is for people to get more involved in their government and schools. Civic engagement is at a low in this country. The percentage of people who vote in local elections is dismal. Even in an educated area like Fairfax, many people just pay their taxes and trust that others are making good decisions for them. It's not always happening and the situation has gotten worse.

Fairfax County needs to shore up its foundation and get rid of the extras. When teachers don't receive a raise for years and class sizes are increased, I would say that the foundation is starting to crumble. Meanwhile, lots of "extras" are being funded. The School Board needs to get a backbone. It's easy and fun to put all of the "extras" in during the high times, but it takes work and courage to do what needs to be done during the hard times.

Of course the state of VA doesn't help when it changes the retirement system so that teachers now need 40 years to get full retirement and the retirement system is also a "hybrid" model (and we all know it will change again). Why would anyone go into the public teaching profession here in Virginia?

They'll say and do anything to get those turf fields. Who cares about test scores, especially when you can have school spirit instead?

the sharon bull o va democrats have been fraud since the early 90's

since the early 90's they've been cheating the standard tests and doing false reports while making laws for "pay raises for teachers that perform well" (well while cheating of course).

Someone please help me understand how my special ed son who is 18 can be passing all of his SOLs when the work being assigned and produced by him is at a 4th-5th grade level. And he is NOT VGLA.

He attends a very small private school through his IEP with FCPS. He is high functioning intellectually, but severely impaired in his executive functioning and has LD in reading, writing and math. On his recent psycho-ed eval, which concurs with several previous evals, his "essay composition skills" are in the 4th percentile. Given that fact, along with the work he is producing that is far below grade level, please tell me how he got a score of 445 on his recent writing SOL?! He is literally doing work on index cards, pasting little pictures and hand-writing!

I have requested copies of all of his SOLs because I need to see to believe. But even then, I still suspect there is some type of bs going on here. Would love to hear input on how I might be able to get to the bottom of the situation and find out what is really going on with his SOLs

Im surprised TrasUrban hasnt taken over testing in FFX Schools.

perhaps he is passing 4th grade SOLs

He is being educated outside of the central circle or mainstream. In essence, he is on his own time-table and he may be doing very well.