I will protect your pensions. Nothing about your pension is going to change when I am governor. - Chris Christie, "An Open Letter to the Teachers of NJ" October, 2009

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Investment Opportunities In Education!

I see big growth in the test security market!
Teachers in Woodcliff Lake will no longer be allowed to proctor their own classrooms during statewide tests. 
The policy change is due to what Superintendent of Schools Peter M. Lisi called "an isolated incident" when a third-grade teacher at Dorchester Elementary allegedly helped some of her students with the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge Grade 3 test (NJ ASK) last May. 
Last May, according to a Department of Education, Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance report, a student told his mother that his teacher had assisted him during the first day of the multi-day test. The mother then spoke to the district guidance counselor and school test coordinator, Susan Goidell, which lead to an investigation by the Office of Student Learning Assessments at the state education department. All 19 students in the classroom were eventually questioned about the teacher's conduct. 
According to the report, the teacher allegedly helped students during the exam by pointing out missed questions, incorrect answers, and by checking over their work. The teacher asserted that several students finished the exam early and she told them to check over their work, pointing out that some students incorrectly filled out the bubbles.
Gosh, I never saw that one coming! Who would have thought that making so much depend on a secretly made assessment that was never intended to determine teacher effectiveness would lead to this kind of behavior? I guess the only thing we can do is isolate the kids from both the teacher and the principal, both of whom could lose their jobs depending on the outcome of the test.

But where will we find proctors? Do you think there might possibly be some private contractors interested?

Another golden opportunity!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

1) I love the fact that the test doesn't change from year to year - it's still the same crap test it always is, and yet we pay MILLIONS for these tests to be developed.

2)What did we EXPECT to happen? I can't wait till they have "security" people proctoring tests for 1st and 2nd graders. Let's see how well THAT goes over!