Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is a state-led consortium developing "next-generation assessments" aligned to the Common Core State Standards in English language
arts/literacy and mathematics. The idea underpinning the SBAC is to have a flexible and balanced system of
assessments -- including formative, interim and summative -- that will provide schools with meaningful feedback and actionable data.
The tests, administered by computer, go beyond the old bubble-fill, multiple-choice questions and include short constructed response, extended constructed response and performance tasks, all aligned with the Common Core. Currently, Minnesota is not on board with the new standard in standardized testing.
A paper published by the Center of American Progress finds that students do not feel challenged at school. For example, more than half of 12th graders feel
civics and history classes are often -- or always -- too easy.
This finding was consistent across grades and subject matter.
The analysis, by Ulrich Boser and Lindsay Rosenthal, found a
"disturbing disconnect between student engagement and test scores." Many
students -- 21 percent of 12th graders and 37 percent of fourth graders
-- reported that math classes were "too easy." But, only 40 percent of
fourth graders and 35 percent of eighth graders were deemed proficient
on the National Assessment for Educational Progress math test.
Boser
and Rosenthal explain this disconnect by pointing to gaps between
lessons and the test questions. "It's also possible that students do
poorly on" the test "because they're not challenged in school," they
wrote.
Police say Catherine Venusto, a former employee of the Northwestern
Lehigh School District in New Tripoli, Pa., hacked into the school's
computer system to change her children's grades, the Morning Call reports. The Associated Press says Ms. Venusto admitted to changing the grades, though she maintains her actions were simply "unethical" -- not illegal.
Fan Daily reports that on February 17, Stuart Chaifetz decided
he would do all in his power to know what was happening at school with his son,
10 year-old Aiken (who has autism). He was one of the students in the New Jersey classroom of Mrs. Kelly Altenburgat Horace Mann Elementary. So, Mr. Chaifetz sent Aiken to school wired with a hidden audio recorder.
"I just knew I had to find out what was happening there," the father told reporters. "My only option was to put a recorder there. I needed to hear what a normal day was like in there."
When
Mr. Chaifetz listened to the tape, he was devastated. His son was the
victim of bullying -- and worst of all, the people who were bullying
Aiken were his own teachers -- Kelly Altenburg and teacher's aide, who has to this point only been identified as Jodi. The tape contains hours of verbal and emotional abuse.
Friends of Kelly Altenburg who talked to media
said that "Kelly is not like that," and swore she would never hurt a child’s
feelings -- particularly one with special needs.
Stuart Chaifetz uploaded sections of the taped abuse to YouTube. The secretly recorded audio catches teaching staff mocking, arguing and verbally bullying the child. One adult calls Chaifetz's autistic 10-year-old son "a bastard."
A lawyer for Altenburg has denied that the teacher was in the classroom when the abusive remarks were made. She has been placed on paid leave. Since the allegations have surfaced, school officials have announced that one school aide resigned, another was put on leave, and that a substitute aide will not be returning.
Correction: The teacher in this story is not the Kelly Altenburg who studied
special education at Minnesota
State University in Mankato as previously posted here in error. My sincere apologies for re-posting false
information. My source was Huffington Post. I would like to blame that site, but since I failed to
mention or link to the source -- I wrongly printed the incorrect information as fact. Fan Daily and Radar Online, which I did provide links to, were the other websites from which I sourced the bad information. I am sorry. I offer my apology for the error. I have learned an important lesson.
The Anoka-Hennepin School District has announced a
settlement in the lawsuit filed against the district that
alleged persistent bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation. According to a report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the settlement will likely bring an end to a federal civil rights
investigation, "which stemmed from a student complaint in the fall of
2010."
The lawsuit was filed last summer on behalf of six current and former
students who said the district did not adequately address complaints of
severe and persistent bullying and harassment based on sexual
orientation.
The Anoka Hennepin School District -- which lashed out over a Rolling Stone article that profiled the spate of suicides in the district and the school's policy which forces teachers to remain neutral on the subject of homosexuality -- recently voted to replace its old policy with one intended to provide a "respectful" environment for all students.
Under a new policy instituted by Lowndes County Schools in Georgia -- report cards and progress reports will reflect a 60 out of 100 as the lowest grade.
Teachers must offer students opportunities to retake tests and redo assignments until a passing grade is earned. The highest grade earned will be recorded, and teachers cannot record zeros, but can give an "incomplete" for work not turned in after insisting that the assignment be completed.
"Assigning a grade of zero is equivalent to giving up on a child,"
Assistant Superintendent of Lowndes County Schools Troy Davis told reporters.
The district has posted the full text of the new guidelines online. The grading guide states that teachers should not be satisfied with issuing grades below a student's potential.
