It often seems that one of the reasons South Carolina ranks last among the states in student achievement, as measured by SAT scores and the state graduation rate, is because our education officials are so preoccupied with matters that relate only marginally to the academic success of students in the classroom.
Under an accountability plan that our state education leaders negotiated with the federal government, in return for federal funds under The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, not a single school district in South Carolina met federal yearly progress targets last school year. Furthermore, only 37 percent of schools in the state made “adequate yearly progress” toward the agreed-upon goal that all students will score proficient or higher in English, math and science by 2014. Even more disturbing, state education leaders have said that these numbers will only get worse.
Instead of devoting our full attention and all of our resources toward ensuring that every student achieves at his or her maximum ability, our state holds the “distinction” of being the only state in the nation to own and operate its own school bus fleet. Ours is also one of the few states in the nation that administers its own testing system that we’ve named the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT). This test diverts vast resources and attention from what should be the focus of our educational establishment, and by any standard it fails to provide timely and useful diagnostic information that would actually allow teachers to better understand and address student performance.
Most states purchase commercially available achievement tests from companies with the professional and scientific expertise to administer tests customized to individual state standards. Unlike those national achievement tests that provide diagnostic information about individual students within a few days, our PACT results are only available long after students have moved on to another grade. Also, the PACT does not provide diagnostic information about individual students, nor does it allow us to compare our students’ achievement with their regional and national peers.
In recent years we have spent approximately $65 per-student administering the PACT, while most states obtain far more useful information for under $10 per-student. In addition to many hidden costs of administering the PACT, such as field-testing possible questions, our state spends over a half million dollars on salaries tied to the test, while districts are forced to additionally spend tens of millions of dollars to purchase the national diagnostic tests in order to obtain useful information about individual students.
Many dedicated teachers complain about the time lost in preparing for and administering tests. It is particularly unfortunate to waste valuable time preparing for and administering a test that does nothing to help us understand and address the education crisis in our state. It often seems that many of our state’s education leaders are more focused on hyping the results and masking the failures of the status quo than serving the teachers, families, and students in our state.
Before the crisis can be addressed and our education problems fixed, we need to implement a testing system better than the PACT that will allow us to diagnose the problems, great as they may be, and ensure that every child is receiving all the help he or she needs to realize his or her God-given potential.
To do justice to our students and their teachers and to focus our efforts where those efforts are needed, it’s time we turn over school bus operations to those who understand the transport business -- and its time we turn our student achievement testing over to those national companies that are expert in the field.
Under an accountability plan that our state education leaders negotiated with the federal government, in return for federal funds under The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, not a single school district in South Carolina met federal yearly progress targets last school year. Furthermore, only 37 percent of schools in the state made “adequate yearly progress” toward the agreed-upon goal that all students will score proficient or higher in English, math and science by 2014. Even more disturbing, state education leaders have said that these numbers will only get worse.
Instead of devoting our full attention and all of our resources toward ensuring that every student achieves at his or her maximum ability, our state holds the “distinction” of being the only state in the nation to own and operate its own school bus fleet. Ours is also one of the few states in the nation that administers its own testing system that we’ve named the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT). This test diverts vast resources and attention from what should be the focus of our educational establishment, and by any standard it fails to provide timely and useful diagnostic information that would actually allow teachers to better understand and address student performance.
Most states purchase commercially available achievement tests from companies with the professional and scientific expertise to administer tests customized to individual state standards. Unlike those national achievement tests that provide diagnostic information about individual students within a few days, our PACT results are only available long after students have moved on to another grade. Also, the PACT does not provide diagnostic information about individual students, nor does it allow us to compare our students’ achievement with their regional and national peers.
In recent years we have spent approximately $65 per-student administering the PACT, while most states obtain far more useful information for under $10 per-student. In addition to many hidden costs of administering the PACT, such as field-testing possible questions, our state spends over a half million dollars on salaries tied to the test, while districts are forced to additionally spend tens of millions of dollars to purchase the national diagnostic tests in order to obtain useful information about individual students.
Many dedicated teachers complain about the time lost in preparing for and administering tests. It is particularly unfortunate to waste valuable time preparing for and administering a test that does nothing to help us understand and address the education crisis in our state. It often seems that many of our state’s education leaders are more focused on hyping the results and masking the failures of the status quo than serving the teachers, families, and students in our state.
Before the crisis can be addressed and our education problems fixed, we need to implement a testing system better than the PACT that will allow us to diagnose the problems, great as they may be, and ensure that every child is receiving all the help he or she needs to realize his or her God-given potential.
To do justice to our students and their teachers and to focus our efforts where those efforts are needed, it’s time we turn over school bus operations to those who understand the transport business -- and its time we turn our student achievement testing over to those national companies that are expert in the field.
9 comments:
whew-a, a good start and it's about time someone tells it like it is painful as it may be to the status quo
What a crock! Our schools are just fine. I bet the Comptroller General owns a bus company or testing service. I haven't seen any statistics that shows are schools are underpreforming and I don't agree with your hipothises.
A national company administering student achievement test would defiantly be more efficient than our current PACT test. We need a test that will be able to bring results that will help us help our students.
WHATEVER
hoo sed
This article raises some very good points, often not fully aired in the news media. The education establishment is not real receptive to some of these ideas, but they are good ideas indeed.
Thanks for your comment, Anonymous at 3:47 PM.
I know outstanding teachers who agree that the PACT is not a useful test to administer. Acceptance of their view is growing among the education establishment. I'm encouraged by the teacher-leaders I meet within our schools.
Thank you for replying to my comment. I am a novice at blogging, but the discussions here are very worthwile and interesting. I did not expect a response, and I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Anonymous:
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