[Reading-hall-of-fame] ed week

[Victoria Purcell-Gates]

I agree, Jay. But I don't think it is wishful 'philosophical' thinking that we need to replace but wishful 'political' thinking. Then we need to do some (more) work educating the public and public servants about the nature of norm- and criterion-referenced assessments and the role that words/labels like 'proficient (mis)play in the conclusions we can draw from them. Letting this type of ignorance continue is ethically very unsound, given who really suffers here -- teachers, children, parents.....
Best, Vicki



-----Original Message-----

> Date: Fri Oct 23 11:51:49 PDT 2009
> From: "Jay Samuels" <samue001 at umn.edu>
> Subject: RE: [Reading-hall-of-fame] ed week
> To: "'Ken Goodman'" <kgoodman at u.arizona.edu>, "'Celt list, The'" <celt-l at coe.missouri.edu>, "'NCRE List'" <NRCEMAIL at asu.edu>, "'Reading Hall of Fame'" <reading-hall-of-fame at nottingham.ac.uk>
>
> I agree with Ken Goodman that what is happening with the No Child Left
> Behind law  under the Obama administration is disappointing, but my
> reasoning on the issue is different than Ken's.Despite all the good
> intentions of those who made the 2002 No Child Left Behind into law, from a
> psychological position, it is a badly flawed piece of legislation, and
> teachers have every reason to resent it. Teachers can do an extraordinarily
> effective job raising the achievement of the school, but if one category of
> students fails to meet AYP, the school can be labeled a failure. The idea
> that by the year 2014 100% of all categories of students will be proficient
> readers is preposterous. If you look in the latest issue of RRQ ( Oct. 2009)
> there is an article by Staudt, who is a talented teacher who tried using
> good methods to bring two learning disabled students to the grade level
> proficiency standards, but, despite helping these students to increased
> achievement, the students would not have met the AYP benchmarks. As a
> profession we need to see what we can do to change the law so that it
> reflects psychological reality and not wishful philosophical thinking. Jay
> Samuels, ed psych. Univ of MN.  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> [mailto:reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of
> Ken Goodman
> Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 1:18 PM
> To: Celt list, The; NCRE List; Reading Hall of Fame
> Subject: [Reading-hall-of-fame] ed week
> 
>     *
> My latest in ED Week current issue.
> Ken Goodman
> 
> 
> This article was sent to you by:* kgoodman at u.arizona.edu
> 
> 
> *On Reading, Will Obama Repeat Bush's Mistakes?* 
> <http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/21/08letter-2.h29.html?tkn=XOVFdw
> L%2BatSKCxEUvAopVQL6YtnOCyx5lTm1> 
> 
> October 21, 2009
> 
> 
> http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/21/08letter-2.h29.html?tkn=XOVFdwL
> %2BatSKCxEUvAopVQL6YtnOCyx5lTm1 
> 
> 
> C 2007 Editorial Projects in Education
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Reading-hall-of-fame mailing list
> Reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/reading-hall-of-fame
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Reading-hall-of-fame mailing list
> Reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/reading-hall-of-fame