Sentences with phrase «definition of proficiency»

The cause of the distortion: allowing each state to establish its own standards and its own definition of proficiency, thereby generating 50 different definitions of the same concept.

In theory, with the Common Core come common definitions of proficiency for each grade, allowing for clearer comparisons of how kids are doing from state to state and school to school.

We need more nimble systems that can accommodate flexible and timely progression decisions based on clear learning objectives, transparent definitions of proficiency and a strong embedded formative assessment system.

The rule is that states are moving aggressively — and impressively — in the direction of higher standards and more honest definitions of proficiency.

However, each state chose its own test and its own definition of proficiency.

Because Tennessee has one of the lowest operational definitions of proficiency in the country.

For one thing, definitions of proficiency vary widely from one state to another - and in most states fall well below the standards established by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Deleting this from the proposed regulations will avoid an overly narrowly definition of proficiency for purposes of measuring school performance.

DR: The federal demand that all students will be proficient by 2014 has led states to embrace a very loose definition of proficiency.

Interstate comparisons or nationwide definitions of proficiency based on common standards might never materialize, but we do not have those now either.

If using a more lenient definition of proficiency leads citizens to evaluate their schools more favorably, then the advent of common expectations under the Common Core could alter public perceptions quite dramatically — perhaps increasing pressure for reform in regions of the country in which state proficiency definitions have provided an inflated view of student accomplishment.

While a few states, including several that had set performance standards prior to NCLB's enactment, have maintained relatively demanding definitions of proficiency, most have been more lenient.

It is these desperate inequities in children's lives that we should be talking about, not overwrought pronouncements about the implications of highly questionable definitions of proficiency.

How many students would pass if every State changed to the NAEP / Common Core Definition of Proficiency?

«To the extent that we end up with 50 different exams and 50 different definitions of proficiency, we're right back where we started,» said Mitchell Chester, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and a firm supporter of the new exams.

Therefore, we encourage states to establish innovation programs to enable the design of new, more nimble systems that are ready to accommodate flexible and timely progression decisions based on clear learning objectives, transparent definitions of proficiency and a strong embedded formative assessment system.

It may be that a common definition of proficiency would increase pressure for reform in states where many students perform poorly relative to the nation as a whole but are deemed proficient by their state.

But many states go even lower than NAEP basic for their definition of proficiency.

Most states are now using NAEP's «basic» achievement level as their definition of proficiency because NAEP's «proficient» level is far beyond their reach.

But whatever one thinks of NAEP's definition of proficiency, nothing in Harvey's article begins to touch on the central point of our essay: U.S. states, by committing themselves to implement Common Core State Standards, have promised to set standards benchmarked at international levels, while in fact they have put into place actual standards at diverse — and embarrassingly low — proficiency levels.

Frederick Hess and I show that a very few states — only Massachusetts, Maine, and South Carolina — have as high a definition of proficiency as the one originally set nationally by those who administer the NAEP.

Differences in state standards are ignored: It is well known that the definition of proficiency varies widely from state to state.

Yes, Margaret Spellings allowed for a «growth model pilot» when she was secretary of education — but schools still had to get all students to proficiency within three years, an unrealistic standard in states with a meaningful (and rigorous) definition of proficiency.

For example, will there be a «common» definition of proficiency (i.e., a uniform «cut - score,» the point on the test - score scale that separates «proficient» pupils from their need - more - work classmates) attached to the «common» assessment or will each participating state be free to set its own?

At best, one can find out the percentage of students deemed proficient by state standards, which are known to vary widely in their definitions of proficiency.

In our view, that's the most powerful way to begin to build the kind of learning opportunities to get to the definition of proficiency.

«The big unintended consequence of No Child Left Behind was to bring to the surface the kind of absurdity of trying to have a single accountability system superimposed after each state had developed its own standards, tests, and definition of proficiency,» Schwartz says.

Sites experienced tension in holding all students to a common definition of proficiency and evaluating students strictly based on performance, not effort.

The biggest downside of the law, she said, was the games that states played with the definition of proficiency.

Change the test, or the passing score, and you change the definition of proficiency.

To the extent that differences in the definition of proficiency from one state to the next interfere with citizens» ability to discern the performance of their local schools, we should see that the average grades citizens assign their schools hew more closely to proficiency rates as determined by state tests than by the NAEP.

There's no doubt that the definition of proficiency in many states provides a misleading view of the extent to which students are prepared for success in college or careers.

The report, written by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, found that the definition of proficiency on standardized tests varies widely among states, making it difficult to assess and compare student performance.

If we take the definition of proficiency as «good enough» as stated in the blog, then there is a finite end point.

By NAEP's definition of proficiency, we probably can not make even half of the students proficient.

It is seen by experts as an important way to compare student performance across states, which have their own standards and definitions of proficiency.

Some states, such as New York and Illinois, manipulated the passing scores on the tests by lowering the definition of proficiency needed in order to demonstrate progress.

Oddly, NAEP's definition of proficiency has little or nothing to do with proficiency as most people understand the term.

States were allowed to set their own definitions of proficiency and to decide how quickly schools would have to progress toward that 100 percent goal.