Schools Anxious Over MCT2

[fuzzis]

Schools anxious over MCT2 (http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/NEWS01/801130302)

May 13. That's the day school officials across Mississippi have been anxiously awaiting. It's when third- through eighth-graders statewide will be tested by the second version of the Mississippi Curriculum Test. Dubbed the MCT2, the test is expected to be more rigorous, more comprehensive and capable of dealing a blow to schools' performance levels.

"Right now we're anxious," said Hattiesburg school district Superintendent Annie Wimbish. "Research shows that anytime there is a change in the format, scores generally drop."

The MCT is the mechanism by which the state determines if schools are in compliance with the accountability standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, aimed at improving student performance.

Mississippi schools each fall are assigned levels from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. The levels are based largely on how well the schools do on standardized tests given each spring.

As the MCT2's debut draws closer, Pine Belt educators are trying their best to get their students - and themselves - prepared....

I find it interesting that the Petal and Lamar County School Districts talk about giving their teachers training and time to talk to each other and develop best practice. Forrest County talks about a program they purchased.

Having spent some time looking at the new Language Arts framework and without having seen the test, it appears that it's going to be a reading test. Regardless of the subject matter. Students are going to have to have sophisticated reading comprehension skills. Without that, they're going to fail.

Quality instruction is what students need. Immersion in the subject area. They need a bit of practice on the testing format shortly before the test (an over-emphasis on format and "practice tests" is actually harmful).

[EricStratton]

One of these days, when I don't depend on a public school to pay my bills, I'll tell you a story or two of how ridiculous "teaching to the test" has become...

[amanda]

One of these days, when I don't depend on a public school to pay my bills, I'll tell you a story or two of how ridiculous "teaching to the test" has become...


We are doing are children more harm than good by "teaching" to the test. Like Fuzzis pointed out, if you give the kids the foundation they will do well on these tests without the comprehensive "practice" they are getting now. I'll be interested in seeing how this turns out.

[mac]

Too much emphasis on the test, not enough emphasis on the basics of what they're supposed to be learning. The test should be an afterthought.

Lots of schools are going to lose the Level 5 status they've been bragging about for the last few years. Many teachers have already seen "mock" versions of the MCT2, and the question format is entirely different and requires the kids to use a lot more brain cells just to figure out what exactly is being asked. I'm very nervous. I teach kids who failed the regular MCT last year, and it's my job to get them ready to pass it this time-- and now the test is going to be harder.

At the beginning of the year, our principal was saying he wanted us to come up from Level 3 to Level 4. Now he's singing a different tune. He's now talking like he'll be happy just to stay at a Level 3. I hate to sound negative, but I think EVERY school is going to go down a notch.

Guess who gets blamed?? I'll give you a hint-- it ain't the parents. It ain't the students. It ain't the bureaucrats who make it impossible.

[amanda]

Too much emphasis on the test, not enough emphasis on the basics of what they're supposed to be learning. The test should be an afterthought.

Lots of schools are going to lose the Level 5 status they've been bragging about for the last few years. Many teachers have already seen "mock" versions of the MCT2, and the question format is entirely different and requires the kids to use a lot more brain cells just to figure out what exactly is being asked. I'm very nervous. I teach kids who failed the regular MCT last year, and it's my job to get them ready to pass it this time-- and now the test is going to be harder.

At the beginning of the year, our principal was saying he wanted us to come up from Level 3 to Level 4. Now he's singing a different tune. He's now talking like he'll be happy just to stay at a Level 3. I hate to sound negative, but I think EVERY school is going to go down a notch.

Guess who gets blamed?? I'll give you a hint-- it ain't the parents. It ain't the students. It ain't the bureaucrats who make it impossible.


I believe you are correct. And yes, the teachers will again take the brunt of the blame, but I think it's the kids that will ultimately suffer from the "failure".

[mac]

And ANOTHER thing-- they want us to give quality instruction, but do you realize how many days of the year instruction is interrupted for b.s. reasons? I can't remember the last time my 7th period class went a full period without someone being checked out, or class being interrupted for an assembly, a geography or spelling bee, or an athletic event. It's worse in 7th period but it happens all day long. They put pressure on us to get the kids to take this seriously, then they undermine it to the point that it feels like learning is secondary to other activities.

[mac]

I was in a workshop one time when the teachers started counting up the number of days in a school year that are wasted for different reasons. First day back from a vacation, last few days before a vacation, meetings, faculty training, athletic events, etc. I wish I could remember the number of actual school days that were remaining when they got done subtracting them. I want to say it was about HALF.

[Scarlett O'Hara]

School pictures, urine testing, pep ralleys, school plays, magazine sales...............and so goes the list.............I'd love to see the actual days wasted!

[Kitty]

Meanwhile, many students are leaving high school without the academic preparation needed to succeed in college.

[amanda]

Meanwhile, many students are leaving high school without the academic preparation needed to succeed in college.

Hence, the failure to the children. Never thought I would ever say that I wished my kids were taught like I was in school. That statement alone is a sad testiment to our kids futures today.

[MJV]

I teach special education and I am really concerned about the new test. My kids already feel like failures. Now I have to do a generic IEP and can't even focus on the real skills that they will need. So instead of money and time management, that they will need and use, I'm trying to teach algebra and we're all frustrated. We were a 4 this year, but I fear we won't hold on to that. Our teachers are working as hard as they possibly can, but it just may not be enough.

[Hermione]

Kitty's right. They come to us unable to work at what I would expect from 9th or 10th graders. But I put some blame on the fact that so many of our kids don't read books. I was shocked when I assigned a book for one of my courses this fall and many students said they had never read a book in high school.

[Luvia]

http://www.k4teens.info/Resources/NCLB.html

I always bring up this link...so sorry if you've clicked it before.
Great site, though.

[fuzzis]

Kitty's right. They come to us unable to work at what I would expect from 9th or 10th graders. But I put some blame on the fact that so many of our kids don't read books. I was shocked when I assigned a book for one of my courses this fall and many students said they had never read a book in high school.

There's very little time.

There's oodles of research that says you don't need a "program"; you need to help mentor them through the processes that proficient readers and writers engage in. It's messy work, though, and it very rarely comes with an easily assessed "test". It requires time and patience and commitment. It's not something that you can give up on after a year and then latch on to the next greatest thing. It takes an investment in literary rich environments--books, magazines, comics, newspapers, short stories, essays.

[Hermione]

Thanks fuzz, I was coming back to the thread to rephrase my comment -- the reading needs to be modeled at home first and foremost. I made it sound like it was the teachers' fault and that's not what I meant.
My sibs and I were voracious readers; although neither parent graduated from high school, there were books, magazines and newspapers in our house, we were read to, taken to the library, and saw our parents and grandparents read. That's the root of it . . .

[fuzzis]

Thanks fuzz, I was coming back to the thread to rephrase my comment -- the reading needs to be modeled at home first and foremost. I made it sound like it was the teachers' fault and that's not what I meant.
My sibs and I were voracious readers; although neither parent graduated from high school, there were books, magazines and newspapers in our house, we were read to, taken to the library, and saw our parents and grandparents read. That's the root of it . . .

I've posted it before, but the research on children who come from literary-rich homes versus literary-poor homes is staggering. Just as a recap...

*Children in a literary-rich home hears 45,000,000 words by the time they are four years old.
*Children in a literary-poor home hear 12,000,000 words by the time they are four years old.
*Parents in a literary-rich home use the same 20,000 words.
* Parents in a literary-poor home use fewer than 10,000 different words with their children.
*To get to a literary-rich environment, students need 20-40 minutes a day of being read to. It does not have to be uninterrupted, consecutive time. It does not have to happen just at bed time and it doesn't have to happen at home.
* The Matthew Effect-the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. In terms of vocabulary development, it's not important that they just hear the word but they hear how it is used.

* 17 for every 1,000: "rare" words used in adult-to-adult conversations
* 11 for every 1,000: "rare" words used in adult-to-child conversations. Do NOT talk "Down" to children
* 22 for every 1,000:"rare" words used on television stations such as PBS, the History Channel, A&E, etc.
* 3 for every 1,000:"rare" words used on primetime television
* 30 for every 1,000:"rare" words found in children's books
* 53 for every 1,000:"rare" words found in comics (graphic novels)
* 128 for every 1,000:"rare" words found in expository text (text books)
* Children from a literary-rich environment need to be exposed to unfamiliar words 10 times before they understand the word. Exposed means students need an opportunity to learn it, see it, play with it, read it, write it. That does NOT mean repetition (writing the word 10X each).
* Children from a literary-poor environment need to be exposed to an unfamiliar word 40 times before they understand it.
* In looking at the NAEP exam the following holds:
o 90th percentile is reading 40.4 minutes per day at school and are being exposed to 2,357,00 words per year.
o 50th percentile is reading 12.9 minutes per day at school and are being exposed to 601,00 words per year.
o 10th percentile is reading 1.6 minutes per day at school and are being exposed to 51,000 words per year.

[Hermione]

I'm smiling thinking of how many times my poor mother -- who dislikes anything dealing with magic or fantasy -- read my Mary Poppins Golden Book to me. It was the story where MP and Mrs. Cory take the gold paper stars from Jane & Michaels drawer, and paste them on the sky. She hated it, but she read it to me over and over and over because I loved it so much.

[fuzzis]

I'm smiling thinking of how many times my poor mother -- who dislikes anything dealing with magic or fantasy -- read my Mary Poppins Golden Book to me. It was the story where MP and Mrs. Cory take the gold paper stars from Jane & Michaels drawer, and paste them on the sky. She hated it, but she read it to me over and over and over because I loved it so much.

I read to my students and gave them time in class to read. 10-15 minutes a day if that's all I could afford, but I made sure we always read because they needed to know that it was vitally important. I also made sure that I didn't change my vocabulary. The words I use are the words I use. They needed to hear them even if they didn't understand them. I'd tell them what they meant, but I wasn't going to dumb anything down for them.

[mac]

Kitty's right. They come to us unable to work at what I would expect from 9th or 10th graders. But I put some blame on the fact that so many of our kids don't read books. I was shocked when I assigned a book for one of my courses this fall and many students said they had never read a book in high school.

Yep. Well you can rest assured when you get the kids I'm currently teaching, they will have read. Every last one of them may fail the MCT2, but they will have read!!!

I realized very quickly that reading is the key-- not worksheets or any of that crap. We read every single day. Right now my 8th graders are reading two books simultaneously- one that we're reading as a class, and one that they are reading in pairs during "peer" reading. They're also SUPPOSED to have an "independent reader" at ALL times. This is a book that they are reading on their own. They're supposed to pull it out and read it whenever they finish work early, etc. Lots of them don't do this though. On top of that, we read lots of short stories and articles, and I do everything I can do to create lessons and activities that force them to read newspaper articles. I've been doing this religiously since the beginning of November, and can see a big difference already. I don't have as much in-class time with my 7th graders, but I'm about to start reading more with them.