One way to compare homeschooled students with peers who attend public schools is to
use standardized achievement test scores.
Of main interest are his 14 reasons, «big and small» for [his] judgment that assessing teacher competence
using standardized achievement tests is nearly worthless.»
Using any standardized achievement test for a purpose for which it was not designed violates nationally - accepted standards of the testing profession, of the state of Illinois and the U. S. Department of Education, and the guidelines of the test makers themselves (see Attachment 2 — PURE Fact Sheet: «Testing professionals oppose use of standardized test scores as sole or primary measures in high - stakes decisions»).
Using any standardized achievement test for a purpose for which it was not designed violates nationally - accepted standards of the testing profession, of the state of Illinois and the U. S. Department of Education, and the guidelines of the test makers themselves -LRB-
This paper considers the issues raised in
using standardized achievement test scores for purposes of examining the academic productivity of schools.
Not exact matches
Only a few of the districts could be directly compared because they
use the same
standardized achievement test.
In a quasi-experimental study in nine Title I schools, principals and teacher leaders
used explicit protocols for leading grade - level learning teams, resulting in students outperforming their peers in six matched schools on
standardized achievement tests (Gallimore, Ermeling, Saunders, and Goldenberg, 2009).
Results from annual
standardized tests can be useful for accountability purposes, but student progress must be measured on a far more frequent basis if the data are being
used to inform instruction and improve
achievement.
And if the underlying measure of student
achievement in these studies was
standardized tests, as was surely the case in many of them, why are such
tests acceptable as measures of teacher quality in studies that are meta - analyzed and
used indirectly, but unacceptable when they are
used directly to assess teacher quality in a structured research design?
Two kinds of
standardized achievement tests commonly
used for school evaluations are ill suited for that measurement.
As a consequence, students» performances on this type of instructionally insensitive
test often become dependent on the very same SES factors that compromise the utility of nationally
standardized achievement tests when
used for school evaluation.
Students who
use the voucher to enroll in private schools end up with much lower math
achievement than they would have otherwise, losing as much as 13 percentile points on the state
standardized test after two years.
From the implementation of the Common Core, to the recent debate surrounding teacher tenure, nearly every issue in public education today can be seen as a facet of a single, fundamental policy question: how should we
use standardized assessments and the student
achievement data these
tests produce?
Students who
use newspapers tend to score higher on
standardized achievement tests — particularly in reading, math, and social studies — than those who don't
use them.
After analyzing a truly staggering amount of data, the researchers conclude that teacher effectiveness can be measured by
using «value - added» analysis of student
achievement growth on
standardized tests.
As well, CT showed larger effects on the mathematics
achievement of special need students than that of general education students, the positive effect of CT was greater when combined with a constructivist approach to teaching than with a traditional approach to teaching, and studies that
used non-
standardized tests as measures of mathematics
achievement reported larger effects of CT than studies that
used standardized tests.
We estimate racial / ethnic
achievement gaps in several hundred metropolitan areas and several thousand school districts in the United States
using the results of roughly 200 million
standardized math and reading
tests administered to public school students from 2009 - 2013.
Achievement effects are estimated
using school - average
test scores on state
standardized math assessments.
Schools must
use a range of assessment tools, not
standardized tests alone, to measure students» «authentic»
achievement levels, a new report by the National Association of Secondary School Principals concludes.
The report, released Wednesday, relies on standards
used by the National Assessment of Education Progress, the only national - level
standardized test, considered the gold standard for measuring actual student
achievement.
The
use of
standardized tests of academic
achievement with students from linguistically - and ethnoculturally - diverse backgrounds may be problematic.
As it turned out, these were, in each case,
standardized achievement tests (six schools used the Stanford Achievement Test 9; two used the Metropolitan Achievement Test 7; two used the California Achievement Test; two used the Northwest Evaluation Association Levels Test; and two used a district - no
achievement tests (six schools
used the Stanford
Achievement Test 9; two used the Metropolitan Achievement Test 7; two used the California Achievement Test; two used the Northwest Evaluation Association Levels Test; and two used a district - no
Achievement Test 9; two used the Metropolitan Achievement Test 7; two used the California Achievement Test; two used the Northwest Evaluation Association Levels Test; and two used a district - normed te
Test 9; two
used the Metropolitan
Achievement Test 7; two used the California Achievement Test; two used the Northwest Evaluation Association Levels Test; and two used a district - no
Achievement Test 7; two used the California Achievement Test; two used the Northwest Evaluation Association Levels Test; and two used a district - normed te
Test 7; two
used the California
Achievement Test; two used the Northwest Evaluation Association Levels Test; and two used a district - no
Achievement Test; two used the Northwest Evaluation Association Levels Test; and two used a district - normed te
Test; two
used the Northwest Evaluation Association Levels
Test; and two used a district - normed te
Test; and two
used a district - normed
testtest.)
Efforts to improve ways to assess teachers have been stalled in part over disagreement about
using students» academic
achievement as measured by
standardized test scores.
While the state recognizes that it has no realistic way to assess AYP for the mandates under NCLB (which I agree are impossible to attain — no school reaches 100 % profiency), it apparently seems to miss the point that the same
standardized tests — or lack / change thereof — are supposed to be
used to measure student
achievement under the SPSA and the
achievement gaps under LCFF.
The most controversial of them include what is known as value - added models1 that
use data from
standardized tests of students as part of the overall measure of the effect that a teacher has on student
achievement.
Here is the description of Opt Out Orlando taken from their site: «Opt Out Orlando advocates for multiple measures of authentic assessments, such as a portfolio, non-high stakes
standardized tests (Iowa
Test of Basic Standards (ITBS) or the Stanford
Achievement Test (SAT10)-RRB-, which are
used to inform teachers» instruction of their students and which do not result in punitive consequences for students, teachers and schools.
According to the technical manuals published by the creators of
standardized assessments, none of the
tests currently in
use to judge teacher or school administrator effectiveness or student
achievement have been validated for those
uses... The
tests are simply not designed to diagnose learning.
If you were to design a comparative study of differences in student
achievement between school environments that
use annual
standardized tests and those that do not, what measures of
achievement or other outcomes would you examine to reveal differences, and why?
KNOWLEDGE BRIEF 15 by Stephen Raudenbush Student scores on
standardized tests are
used as measures for teacher accountability, but, arguably, helping children score well on an
achievement test is of little value in itself.
VAMs v. Student Growth Models: The main similarities between VAMs and student growth models are that they all
use students» large - scale
standardized test score data from current and prior years to calculate students» growth in
achievement over time.
Most states are
using the value - added models to determine how much teachers contribute to their students»
achievement on
standardized tests.
While the Department will likely add more academic performance measures in the future, for 2014 officials also included the level of participation in state assessments,
achievement gaps between students with disabilities and the general population as well as scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a
standardized test used to gauge academic growth across the country.
But currently the only way to measure student
achievement on a large scale is by
using standardized test scores.
But it has faced growing scrutiny over its
use of taxpayer dollars and its schools» often poor records on common measures of
achievement, including
standardized tests and graduation rates.
While federal legislation calls for «multiple up - to - date measures of student academic
achievement, including measures that assess higher - order thinking skills and understanding» (NCLB, Sec. 1111, b, I, vi), most assessment tools
used for federal reporting focus on lower - level skill that can be measured on
standardized mostly multiple - choice
tests.
The teachers were introduced to a range of identification procedures including above - level
testing, the
use of
standardized achievement tests, and a range of teacher and parent nomination checklists.
The effect of students» sense of personalization on their academic
achievement was measured
using standardized test scores and weighted grade - point averages.
The
use of
standardized test scores and the construct of the
achievement gap can be tied to the eugenics movement and its efforts to maintain racial hierarchies.
These authors explored some of the challenges and promises in terms of
using and designing
standardized achievement tests and other educational
tests that are «instructionally useful.»
In an effort to settle the case, the district and its teachers» union reach agreement on an evaluation program that factors in
standardized test scores as well as Academic Growth over Time, a mathematical formula
used to measure student
achievement.
The deliberations have addressed various topics such as whether (a) parents should have to be state - certified teachers in order to home educate their children, (b) parents should have to have achieved a particular level of formal education in order to homeschool their children, (c) parents should have to pass teacher qualification examinations that states
use for public school teachers, (d) homeschool students should be subjected to mandatory
standardized achievement tests, (e) state officials should oversee the social activities of home - educated students (or homeschool socialization), and (f) parents should have to get approval from the state government in order to engage in home - based education with their children (see, e.g., Farris 2013; Yuracko, 2008).
The law was passed in December 2015 to replace the flawed NCLB, which went into effect in 2002 and dictated the
use of English language arts and math
standardized test scores to hold schools accountable for student
achievement.
In Chicago, 100 percent of the teachers at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy voted to boycott the Illinois Standards
Achievement Test, backed by the full support of the Chicago Teachers Union, which called it «an obsolete test [that] has no use to educators or administrators... and serves no purpose other than to give students another standardized test.&ra
Test, backed by the full support of the Chicago Teachers Union, which called it «an obsolete
test [that] has no use to educators or administrators... and serves no purpose other than to give students another standardized test.&ra
test [that] has no
use to educators or administrators... and serves no purpose other than to give students another
standardized test.&ra
test.»
Using the ACT College Readiness Assessment, a nationally - recognized
standardized test for high school
achievement and college admissions, our high school students continue to outrank their peers nationally.
Given the lack of proven links between
testing and
achievement, as well as extensive evidence about the limitations and problems of high - stakes
testing, Parents Across America opposes current efforts to expand the
use of
standardized tests.
Connecticut's superintendents should follow the lead of their New York colleagues and demand that Governor Malloy and the Connecticut General Assembly repeal the law they developed mandating that student
achievement data from
standardized tests be
used as part of the educator evaluation process.
In every
standardized achievement test whose scores we
use to judge the quality of the education received by our children, family income strongly and significantly influences the mean scores obtained.
Chalfant ruled that the Stull Act requires the district to
use California
standardized test scores in determining student
achievement.
The results of the 1992 Gallup Poll indicated that 71 % of public school parents favored requiring public schools to
use standardized tests to measure the academic
achievement of students.
The new evaluations are based on a combination of teacher practice and student
achievement, which includes the controversial
use of
standardized test scores.