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Re: [Phys-l] Pres. Obama to eliminate testing portion of NCLB

And of course there is the problem of stupid questions. The state tests are
full of them. The most memorable questions that I recently discovered is
the following:

On a biology question the answer was that "a mushroom is a predator".

One wonders who they get to write and check the questions. This example was
supplied to me by a biology teacher who was aghast at it.

John M. Clement
Houton, TX


I've discussed this issue with many teachers. Most have no problem
with going to a merit pay system as long as their pay is not
tied only
to the test scores. I have to agree with them. There are so many
factors on which to judge a teacher, and the student test scores are
one thing that is largely out of their control. So many
things affect
the scores, including parental involvement, SES, general attitude of
the students, etc.

Bill



On Aug 8, 2011, at 12:45 PM, John Clement wrote:

To do that you have to eliminate the law that is requiring the
testing.

Of what use is testing and firing teacher when the teachers do not
know what
to do to increase the scores? Once the galley slaves are
producing
maximum
output, more whipping will actually make them slower. In the case
of the
teachers, the blame the teachers game has driven away the
top people.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


Tongue in cheek?

How about eliminating the department that is requiring the
tests? That
would solve the problem also.

It appears that President Obama has found the perfect
solution to the poor testing results of US students -
eliminate the test.


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Forum for Physics Educators
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_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l