Fairfield-Echo.com

ETS’ test scoring going over like a lead balloon in Great Britain

By selliott | Friday, July 18, 2008, 10:28 PM

Wow. The British are getting ready to throw the Educational Testing Service out of the country after massive screw-ups in the scoring of key gateway exams there. ETS, the makers of the SAT, were late delivering the exam results and now that they finally delivered the scores schools are finding huge problems and inconsistencies. So much for ETS’ European division.

Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment More: Testing

Now that’s a great idea — a state board of ed blog

By selliott | Thursday, July 17, 2008, 04:30 PM

(Haverkos and Grady’s cartoon likenesses)

I think this is pretty cool. Susan Haverkos, a state board of education member who represents about half of the Miami Valley, an her board colleague Colleen Grady have launched a blog where they will write about state board business and statewide education issues.

I don’t know why more elected officials haven’t started blogs. It’s a great way to communicate your message and interact with the voters who elected you.

I just have one complaint about the Haverkos/Grady site. Ladies, when you cite another blog, whether your are complaining about it or praising it, the custom online is to link to the post in question. They have a post up that takes issue with my criticism of a state board press release that begged Ohio newspapers to give free advertising, saying the state cannot purchase ads due to “budget constraints.”

Or perhaps state board members are also unable to connect to Ohio newspaper blogs due to budget constraints?

Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment More: Schools and Politics

State can’t afford to advertise for superintendent?

By selliott | Wednesday, July 16, 2008, 08:16 AM

A press release came my way Tuesday announcing that the consultant the state board of education hired to find a replacement for former state superintendent Susan Zelman is getting it’s search off the ground.

But at the top of the press release was this curious note:

“Due to state budget constraints, no classified advertisements for this position will be placed in Ohio newspapers. With this in mind, the State Board of Education would appreciate your publication covering this important news story.”

Seriously, we are to believe that Ohio is so broke it can’t afford to buy a few classified ads to try to find a strong candidate for school superintendent from within the state?

The release goes on to give a flavor of what the consultant said Ohio will be looking for in its next superintendent. The successful candidate, the release said will:

Continue reading "State can’t afford to advertise for superintendent?"...

Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment More: Schools and Politics

Cheat on the SAT? No big deal

By selliott | Monday, July 14, 2008, 11:08 PM

Testing companies that administer the SAT and ACT college entrance exams like to talk about how vigilant they are about security. If that’s so, then the must be REALLY tough on kids who are caught cheating on the exam.

So of course they notify the colleges the cheaters apply to and the high schools they attend, right? And they ban them from every taking another entrance test, I’m sure. They probably even try to prosecute the kids, don’t they?

Nope.

Here’s what happens to the cheaters: Nothing.

That’s what the L.A. Times reported, that the punishment for cheating is an invalidated score and an opportunity to take the exam again.

Wow. That will show ‘em!

Why don’t the companies take harsher action? Well, their higher priority is keeping test security breaches confidential. It certainly doesn’t serve a testing company for people to learn there is significant cheating going on on the SAT or the ACT.

So they keep it quiet.

What can be done about this? Well, colleges and states could start requiring more disclosure about cheating on these and other standardized tests.

What do you think? Should test companies be required to take more action against cheaters?

Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment More: Testing

Obama and the idea of “new tests”

By selliott | Saturday, July 12, 2008, 06:59 PM

Yesterday, I got a lucky break. I managed to tag along with our political reporters to cover a speech by Barack Obama at Dayton’s Stivers School for the Arts and, prompted by a question from the crowd, Obama repeated a chunk of his position on education.

He didn’t say anything he had not said before, but he did repeat something he’s been saying that peaked my interest. Here is the comment in question:

“We need to change how measures of progress works. A standardized test given at the beginning of year would give teachers a tool to know where kids are starting. If they want, they can have another test at the end of year to see how they end up. In the middle, let teachers do what they do best, which is teach. We need to work with teachers to develop other assessment tools to be sure we are making progress.”

Several times now, I’ve heard Obama call for “new tests” or “new testing technology” designed for 21st century learning. So here is the question I’d like Obama to answer — exactly what do you mean by “new tests” and what is your vision of how these futuristic tests would look like?

Here’s where I suspect these statements by Obama might be coming from.

Continue reading "Obama and the idea of “new tests”"...

Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment More: Tracking Barack Obama

Obama gives his take on education at Stivers

By selliott | Friday, July 11, 2008, 04:28 PM

Obama speaks at Stivers School for the Arts Friday)

Here’s the good news: Dayton Daily News political reporter Laura Bischoff got a one-on-one interview with Barack Obama following his speech today at Stivers School for the Arts in Dayton.

Now the bad news. She walked in for the meeting and an Obama handler literally held up a stop watch and said, “You have five minutes. Go!”

Five minutes isn’t time to cover much ground. This is the second time a DDN reporter has gotten a one-on-one interview with Obama since the campaign began. My colleague Lynn Hulsey got five minutes to ask him questions a few months ago during the primaries.

In both cases, I hopefully slipped a couple education questions to Hulsey and Bischoff. But in both cases, questions about the economy were priority No. 1 and there wasn’t time to get much beyond that. I know time is precious to a presidential campaign, but really, five minutes is not being fair.

Thankfully a teacher from Cincinnati bailed me out Friday.

During the queston and answer period after Obama’s speech on energy, he called on a woman with an Obama T-shirt who identified herself as a Cincinnati teacher who asked this question:

Continue reading "Obama gives his take on education at Stivers"...

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment More: Schools and Politics, Tracking Barack Obama

Obama to talk at Stivers

By selliott | Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 04:21 PM

My colleague Jessica Wherman is reporting Barack Obama will speak Friday at Stivers School for the Arts.

With a school venue, it seemed hopeful Obama might be talking about education policy? Nope. Turns out he is talking about energy.

Tickets are available through your local Democratic Party headquarters. Jessica’s post has more details. The event begins at 10 a.m.

Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment More: Schools and Politics, Tracking Barack Obama