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Re: [Phys-l] Friendship trumps competance Was: Re: WHY VALUE ADDED TESTING IS A BUST.



So, Ravitch has a hypothesis (along with strong political opinions and no supporting data). Hypotheses are made to be tested. One counter-example to a hypothesis proves it untrue or incomplete.

Crawford Elementary School in Houston, Texas

CES is 99% Free and Reduced-Price Lunch
CES is 98% Hispanic and African American
CES is 51% English Learners

In 2008, CES achieved 100% proficiency on the state science test where the state average was 85% (and the state had much less challenging demographics). This includes poor, English Learners, special education, boys, girls . . . everyone.

Here's a school in California (Sixth Street Prep Elementary in Victorville):

90% Hispanic and African American
84% Free and Reduced-Price Lunch
36% English Learners

5th grade test scores:
96% proficient in science (state average, 56%)
96% proficient in English (state average, 58%)
100% proficient in Math (state average, 60%)

Doug Reeves has identified dozens of 90/90/90 schools, schools that are 90% ethnic minority, 90% poverty, and 90+% proficient on the state tests. He has recently identified a handful of 100/100/100 schools. I, personally have identifed about a dozen schools whose demographics are far more challenging than state average yet score far above state average on science exams.

So, Diane Ravitch and Roger Bybee, "It's not the poverty, stupid." It is ridiculously silly to call a feat impossible when some are already accomplishing it. I'm obviously preaching to the choir here, but dropouts or failures are not poverty's fault, English Learners' fault, or ethnic minorities' fault. They are also not an individual teacher's fault. But they are the school's fault. There are schools out there that have solved these problems. It is not impossible to educate children of poverty. It is more difficult, but not impossible. Just as Ravitch argues that leaving the student out of the equation (which Value Added analysis does not) is ridiculous, leaving the teacher out is equally ridiculous. As Reeves says, "Teacher quality has 6-10 times the effect on student achievement as all other factors combined."

More pragmatically, many of her arguments are plain wrong. In California, education dollars are not spent locally from local property taxes. The money is pooled at the state and doled out to districts. It is very evident that needy districts get far more money per student than their affluent neighbors (Title 1 money and SIG grants, for example).

Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

Mike


----- Original Message ----- From: "Bernard Cleyet" <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>
To: "Forum for Physics Educators" <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 6:19 PM
Subject: [Phys-l] Friendship trumps competance Was: Re: WHY VALUE ADDED TESTING IS A BUST.




http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6324/can_our_schools_run_on_duncan%20

It's the poverty stupid:


http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6326/its_the_poverty_stupid/

bc thinks capitalism is inappropriate for education.
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__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 5421 (20100903) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com