Data Reflections

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Another NY Times article

In case you didn't see this one come across a listserv, check out this article looking into some of the latest happenings at the New York State Education Department. Thoughts?

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

NY Times article about NYS tests

A recent article discusses that old test items were "tricky" even though it states that they were "too predictable, leading proficiency rates to rise..."

The article goes on to say that "The state made the tests harder to pass in 2010, and scores plunged." The results had NOTHING to do with the wording of the questions - the cut points were raised based on the state's CUNY "research" AFTER the test administration!

Other article highlights include changes to future assessments such as the reduction of "not" in item prompts, limited italics/bold, a clear font type, and the requirement for positive material in passages.

To me, the bottom line is, if students cannot read, does font type matter? Does font type matter? Does font type matter? Does font type matter? Does font type matter?

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

And so it begins...