Comments on: Beyond The Test http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2006/03/beyond-the-test/ Challenge The Status Quo Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:20:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Laurie http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2006/03/beyond-the-test/comment-page-1/#comment-130 Laurie Sun, 12 Mar 2006 22:46:33 +0000 http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2006/03/beyond-the-test/#comment-130 I keep thinking about why I got into teaching and it had nothing to do with a test. I know that the kind of change that needs to happen in my room, in our school, in education in California, must start with me. So I am going to keep pushing for change. I keep thinking about why I got into teaching and it had nothing to do with a test. I know that the kind of change that needs to happen in my room, in our school, in education in California, must start with me. So I am going to keep pushing for change.

]]> By: Todd http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2006/03/beyond-the-test/comment-page-1/#comment-129 Todd Sun, 12 Mar 2006 00:00:35 +0000 http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2006/03/beyond-the-test/#comment-129 So what do we do about it? I think that the big decision from Jack O'Connell that there are <a href="http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr06/yr06rel4.asp">no alternatives to the CAHSEE</a> is exactly the kind of decision that's terrible for education. Perhaps such an alternative doesn't exist right now, but O'Connell phrases his decision in such a way that leads me to believe that the investigation is over. So despite the fact that the legislation that put the CAHSEE into place requires consideration of alternative testing, that consideration is over without any public debriefing of the options that were looked at. I would not be surprised if O'Connell only took the briefest of cursory glances at the summaries written about the abstracts explaining some options to the CAHSEE. So shouldn't the response be something along the lines of, "We haven't found anything yet, and so the CAHSEE stands as a requirement, but we will continue to look into the matter and will even go so far as to look into creating an alternative test if no such test exists"? If we had an education department that said (and actually did) that, California would be on the cutting edge. So what do we do about it? I think that the big decision from Jack O’Connell that there are no alternatives to the CAHSEE is exactly the kind of decision that’s terrible for education. Perhaps such an alternative doesn’t exist right now, but O’Connell phrases his decision in such a way that leads me to believe that the investigation is over. So despite the fact that the legislation that put the CAHSEE into place requires consideration of alternative testing, that consideration is over without any public debriefing of the options that were looked at. I would not be surprised if O’Connell only took the briefest of cursory glances at the summaries written about the abstracts explaining some options to the CAHSEE.

So shouldn’t the response be something along the lines of, “We haven’t found anything yet, and so the CAHSEE stands as a requirement, but we will continue to look into the matter and will even go so far as to look into creating an alternative test if no such test exists”? If we had an education department that said (and actually did) that, California would be on the cutting edge.

]]> By: Laurie http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2006/03/beyond-the-test/comment-page-1/#comment-128 Laurie Sat, 11 Mar 2006 18:15:07 +0000 http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2006/03/beyond-the-test/#comment-128 This time, this blog you hit the nail on the head and pounded it in. This time, this blog you hit the nail on the head and pounded it in.

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