Has this been discussed yet? If so can you point me to the thread?

[foxbridgeacademy]

NCLB being rewritten

[Southern Ivy]

This and all the other political hoopla associated with education is exactly why I am (and others are) leaving the education field.
We have switched curricula, rewritten assessments, given double the amount of assessments, changed our learning objectives, revised our learning objectives, switched curricula again, reformatted our assessments, gone back to the original learning objectives, and added even more assessments.
This is just in the last 3 years. It's RIDICULOUS. 

I wish the people creating these asinine laws (and decide to change them year after year) actually spent a day in a classroom - better yet, a decade in a classroom. They have no realistic idea of what to expect in the classroom; but by golly, let's change it up on the teachers AGAIN, so they can jump through more hoops that we'll just continually move on them.  

So frustrating! If it didn't work the first time, if Common Core is messing things up again, why go back to the original broken wheel? I DO NOT GET IT! 
:rant: 

Edited: because apparently when I rant, I lose all spelling capabilities
 

Edited December 11, 2015 by Southern Ivy

[Southern Ivy]

Ok, I will say, I am glad that the power to evaluate the schools is back into the states hands. I think with Common Core, you ended up comparing apples and oranges due to socioeconomic (and other) influences. I think (HOPE) that this might help make some things more attainable? 

[Arcadia]

I am reading the paper copy of WSJ and it looks like PI (performance improvement) will be scrap. That means parents have one less legal avenue to transfer their child to a better performing school in the district. The achievement gap is already ignored in my district despite PI status, it could only get worse.

 

The name of the new law "Every Child Succeeds Act" is as bad as my district's PR person saying every child would get an adequate education.

[foxbridgeacademy]

You're right it is absolutely ridiculous that they keep changing and heaping more and more requirements onto teachers and students just to turn around and tell them how badly they're doing on all the new benchmarks.  Having the power back in each state hands makes the oversight and regulation of a behemoth industry a little more manageable. 

[Butter]

When they say less time should be spent on testing, do they just mean the days of actual testing, or test prep, too?  My daughter went to public 9th grade and they spent literally an entire month in English class getting ready for the English I end of course exam.  It was ridiculous.  All they did that entire month - 20 class periods - was take practice tests and learn how to write essays for the highest scores and go over testing tips.  They could've read an entire novel in that amount of time!

[Arcadia]

When they say less time should be spent on testing, do they just mean the days of actual testing, or test prep, too?  

 

I didn't see anything about less time spent on testing.  It just say it is up to the state to decide on how they test.

 

"Maintains important information for parents, teachers, and communities – The bill maintains the federally required two tests in reading and math per child per year in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, as well as science tests given three times between grades 3 and 12. These important measures of student achievement ensure that parents know how their children are performing and help teachers support students who are struggling to meet standards. States will be given additional flexibility to pilot innovative assessment systems in school districts across the state. " (bolded mine)

Source: http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/The_Every_Child_Achieves_Act_of_2015--summary.pdf

 

ETA:

"Preserve annual assessments and reduce the often onerous burden of unnecessary and ineffective testing on students and teachers, making sure that standardized tests don’t crowd out teaching and learning, without sacrificing clear, annual information parents and educators need to make sure our children are learning."

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/12/10/white-house-report-every-student-succeeds-act

 

 

Edited December 11, 2015 by Arcadia

[Butter]

I didn't see anything about less time spent on testing.  It just say it is up to the state to decide on how they test.

 

The Obama administration has been saying the thing about less time spent on testing.  They want it limited to something like 2% of total time in school (which is about 3 1/2 school days in a 180 day school year).  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/obama-administration-calls-for-limits-on-testing-in-schools.html?_r=0

[Arcadia]

The Obama administration has been saying the thing about less time spent on testing.  They want it limited to something like 2% of total time in school (which is about 3 1/2 school days in a 180 day school year).  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/obama-administration-calls-for-limits-on-testing-in-schools.html?_r=0

 

I think that would depend on your state.  California's state testing is 8hrs 30mins for LA and Math combined for high school students.  Science is 2 x 70 mins = 2hr 20 mins once in high school. Less than 11hrs total for LA, Math and Science in any year for federal requirements. My local high school bell schedule adds up to 36.5hrs in school per week; two days of 7hrs and three days of 7.5hrs.

[Southern Ivy]

When they say less time should be spent on testing, do they just mean the days of actual testing, or test prep, too?  My daughter went to public 9th grade and they spent literally an entire month in English class getting ready for the English I end of course exam.  It was ridiculous.  All they did that entire month - 20 class periods - was take practice tests and learn how to write essays for the highest scores and go over testing tips.  They could've read an entire novel in that amount of time!

We have spent the equivalent of a month taking practice test after practice test and I teach 4th grade! For 2 weeks of the afternoon, 3xs a year, we did practice tests. Then, we took 2 weeks to take the regular test. 

The computerized has made it shorter, thank goodness, but it's still too much. (A MAJOR reason why I plan on homeschooling.)

[JoJosMom]

Well, of course it is being rewritten.  And then shall be modified, tweaked, revised, and rewritten again ad infinitum.  You don't expect the bureaucrats who write that stuff to, you know, get jobs, do you?  Like in a classroom or something. :rolleyes: