tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post1081516611627319954..comments2024-03-22T02:15:56.280-07:00Comments on Jersey Jazzman: The PARCC, Phil Murphy, and Some Common SenseDukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16535645107179796099noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-50723342945062896852018-07-17T09:09:37.460-07:002018-07-17T09:09:37.460-07:00Continuing from above:
The most misleading conc...Continuing from above:<br /><br /><br /> The most misleading concept/term in education is "measuring student achievement" or "measuring student learning". The concept has been misleading educators into deluding themselves that the teaching and learning process can be analyzed/assessed using "scientific" methods which are actually pseudo-scientific at best and at worst a complete bastardization of rationo-logical thinking and language usage.<br /> There never has been and never will be any "measuring" of the teaching and learning process and what each individual student learns in their schooling. There is and always has been assessing, evaluating, judging of what students learn but never a true "measuring" of it.<br /> The TESTS MEASURE NOTHING, quite literally when you realize what is actually happening with them. Richard Phelps, a staunch standardized test proponent (he has written at least two books defending the standardized testing malpractices) in the introduction to “Correcting Fallacies About Educational and Psychological Testing” unwittingly lets the cat out of the bag with this statement:<br /> “Physical tests, such as those conducted by engineers, can be standardized, of course, but in this volume, we focus on the measurement of latent (i.e., nonobservable) mental, and not physical, traits.”<br /> Notice how he is trying to assert by proximity that educational standardized testing and the testing done by engineers are basically the same, in other words a “truly scientific endeavor”. The same by proximity is not a good rhetorical/debating technique.<br /> Since there is no agreement on a standard unit of learning, there is no exemplar of that standard unit and there is no measuring device calibrated against said non-existent standard unit, how is it possible to “measure the nonobservable”?<br /> PURE LOGICAL INSANITY! (pgs 6-9)Duane Swackerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11862054631331567527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-60596843848093299242018-07-17T09:09:07.554-07:002018-07-17T09:09:07.554-07:00"the scores on that item are going to vary ba..."the scores on that item are going to vary based on something other than the things we really want to measure."<br /><br />Nothing is being "measured" in the standardized testing process. Why? From Ch.6 of "Infidelity to Truth: Education Malpractice in Public Education":<br /><br />In addition to that and perhaps even worse is that the proponents of these standards claim that the CCSS are standards against which 'student achievement' can be measured. In doing so educational standards proponents claim the documentary standard (definition three) as a metrological standard (definition four). In doing so they are falsely claiming a meaning of standard that should not be given credence.<br /> This confusion is compounded by what it means to measure something and the similar misuse of the meaning of the word measure by the proponents of the standards and testing regime. Assessment and evaluation perhaps can be used interchangeably but assessment and evaluation are not the same as measurement. Word usage matters!<br /> The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of measure includes the following:<br />1a (1): an adequate or due portion (2): a moderate degree; also: moderation, temperance (3): A fixed or suitable limit: bounds b: the dimensions, capacity or amount of something ascertained by measuring c: an estimate of whit is to be expected (as of a person or situation d: (1): a measured quantity (2): amount, degree<br />2a: an instrument or utensil for measuring b (1): a standard or unit of measurement—see weight table (2): A system of standard units of measure <br />3: the act or process of measuring<br />4a (1): melody, tune (2): dance; especially: a slow and stately dance b: rhythmic structure or movement: cadence: as (1): poetic rhythm measured by temporal quantity or accent; specifically: meter (2): musical time c (1): a grouping of a specified number of musical beats located between two consecutive vertical lines on a staff (2): a metrical unit: foot<br />5: an exact divisor of a number<br />6: a basis or standard of comparison <wealth is not a measure of happiness<br />7: a step planned or taken as a means to an end; specifically: a proposed legislative act<br /> Measure as commonly used in educational standard and measurement discourse comes under definitions 1d, 2, and 3, the rest not being pertinent other than to be used as an obfuscating meaning to cover for the fact that, indeed, there is no true measuring against a standard whatsoever in the educational standards and standardized testing regimes and even in the grading of students. What we are left with in this bastardization of the English language is a bewildering befuddle of confusion that can only serve to deceive many into buying into intellectually bankrupt schemes that invalidly sort, rate and rank students resulting in blatant discrimination with some students rewarded and others punished by various means such as denying opportunities to advance, to not being able to take courses or enroll in desired programs of study.Duane Swackerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11862054631331567527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-22024442049169106562018-07-17T07:21:55.646-07:002018-07-17T07:21:55.646-07:00Noooo!!! How had this slipped under my radar? (Pro...Noooo!!! How had this slipped under my radar? (Probably having an 8th-grader now LOL)<br /><br />Thanks for the heads-up!CrunchyMamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434606158400653601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9025948832913694345.post-67980942586330461322018-07-16T08:14:50.662-07:002018-07-16T08:14:50.662-07:00Just an FYI for you....MD uses PARCC ELA 10 and Al...Just an FYI for you....MD uses PARCC ELA 10 and Alg I as grad requirements, also. We are hearing "rumors" that they are getting rid of PARCC for the 2019 school year and the school board and Governor are looking at computer adaptive tests to be developed by New Meridian (or Meridian). Guess what? Meridian owns or manages PARCC. This association between New Meridian and PARCC is very incestuous. This will just be a rebranding same as with the rebranding of the Common Core standards. It's all just a lie and just another way for ed-tech and "rephormers" to extract more education tax dollars. edblisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792046029260177146noreply@blogger.com