Test Scores

The problem of cheating on standardized tests that was recently uncovered in the Baltimore City Public Schools is apparently another in a long list of testing scandals that have plagued school districts across the country. Some might argue that these episodes provide further proof of sociologist Donald T. Campbell's observation made more than three decades ago. "Campbell's law," as it is known, states that the more a quantitative measure is used for social decision-making, the more it will be subject to corruption pressures that distort the social process it is intended to monitor.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution--the newspaper that single-handedly uncovered a massive cheating scandal in Atlanta's public schools last year that saw its superintendent resign in disgrace and several educators possibly facing criminal charges--took its investigation one step further this past weekend by looking at suspicious test scores in districts across the nation. Baltimore City was one of the districts highlighted in the AJC's large-scale project called "Cheating our Children: The Journey from cheating in Atlanta Schools to suspicious tests nationwide" , published this past weekend.

Speaking as a retired independent middle school principal with 32 years of service, it was most disturbing to read The Sun's editorial that appeared to search for satisfactory criteria that would "tie a teacher's pay to performance rather than seniority" ("Baltimore schools' uncharted waters," Dec. 21). In my opinion, there is no such method existing which would truly judge a student's inherent scholastic achievements since a tremendous difference definitely exists between the more able, stable students living in a corresponding environment than the weaker ones living in a less caring and non-attentive surroundings.

If we really care about the education of young people in poverty, we will stop focusing on test results and pay much more attention to the quality of life students and families endure. The more their parents and the students themselves are employed, the better their housing and transportation, the better their health care and nutrition, the more they learn. Propaganda for testing and fear, however, recently got a boost from media coverage of a well-publicized study out of Harvard and Columbia universities.

The performance of Baltimore's first- and second-grade pupils fell significantly in reading and math on a national standardized test, mirroring the drops on statewide assessments this year. The results show that the academic performance of even the city's youngest students has declined, in some cases by as much as 6 percentage points in a single grade and subject. While a news release sent late Friday emphasized that students are still performing above the national average in some subjects, the system acknowledged that the test scores are a "call to action.

Maryland should be proud of leading the nation with a law that bars schools from automatically giving test scores and student contact information to military recruiters. Students do not need pressure from recruiters for making a career choice that could harm them, perhaps even take their life or cause them to have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that can be worse than death. PTSD could cause perpetual depression and/or suicide. There are more life affirming career choices that we should encourage our youth to pursue.

The best elementary schools in the state come in all sizes and areas, from a small school filled with low-income students in the far reaches of Western Maryland to a midsize one in a wealthy neighborhood of Anne Arundel County. Of the 874 elementary schools in the state, Crellin Elementary, a schoolhouse nestled in a coal mining area that has amassed a collection of prizes for leadership, environmental teaching and character education, is the school with the highest pass rate on the Maryland School Assessment.

Most respondents to The Evening Sun's survey questions yesterday agreed with the state school board's decision to make public the results of a new statewide test. The criterion-reference tests are designed to measure how well the schools teach and will be given for the first time in May.Of 288 callers, 250 (87 percent) said they believe that the test scores should be made public, while 38 callers (13 percent) said they do not think that should be the case. Of 289 callers, 238 (82 percent)

Some school superintendents have asked the state Board of Education to keep results of a new statewide test secret. The superintendents say releasing the scores during the first year of testing would hurt morale in the school systems. The criterion-reference tests are designed to measure how well the schools teach and will be given for the first time in May. The state school board has decided the scores should be made public, but we'd like to know what you think.Should the test scores be made public?

Angered that erroneous test score data led to mistaken beliefs about the success of a private company running eight public schools, the Baltimore City Council voted unanimously last night to open an investigation into the Department of Education's role in the episode.The council passed a resolution asking the city comptroller to perform an audit and investigate the department's handling of test scores at the eight "Tesseract" schools operated by Education Alternatives Inc. of Minnesota.Last spring, the school system reported that test scores of students at the EAI schools had improved.

We should all worry about "overwhelming students, schools with tests" (Too many tests in Md.?" Feb. 7). As The Sun points out, the new testing will be extremely time-consuming. There is no scientific evidence, however, that increasing the amount of testing will increase student achievement. The new tests will be given online and, as The Sun also points out, schools don't have the technology to administer them. Of course, the test publishers and computer companies will be happy to sell it to them, as well as costly new equipment as their old equipment rapidly becomes obsolete.

Speaking as a retired independent middle school principal with 32 years of service, it was most disturbing to read The Sun's editorial that appeared to search for satisfactory criteria that would "tie a teacher's pay to performance rather than seniority" ("Baltimore schools' uncharted waters," Dec. 21). In my opinion, there is no such method existing which would truly judge a student's inherent scholastic achievements since a tremendous difference definitely exists between the more able, stable students living in a corresponding environment than the weaker ones living in a less caring and non-attentive surroundings.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's desire to grow the population of Baltimore and the release of the city school system's mediocre scores on a national standardized test were reported within days of each other earlier last week ("Baltimore students' test scores still lagging," Dec. 8; "Mayor's goal: 10,000 families in 10 years," Dec. 6). With city services and resources already stretched to the breaking point, Baltimore doesn't need more people. It does need thousands of more jobs and a dramatically improved school system for those citizens already living here.

It was heartening to read, just after Election Day, that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that she wants Baltimore's population to increase during the next four years. The mayor has given us very few clues up to now about long-term goals for the city, and population increase seems to be a good one. This is a reasonable and quite doable objective but, in itself, doesn't tell us much about the Baltimore of the future. Will the new population live in high-rises ringing every available foot of shoreline?

The Baltimore school system will launch its first districtwide Saturday School initiative in December, a program promised by city schools CEO Andrés Alonso to help remedy declining scores on state tests. The $3 million Saturday School program will run for 10 weeks, primarily targeting students who scored basic in math on the 2011 Maryland School Assessments. Students in grades four through eight are eligible for the program, which will offer between 20 and 30 hours of additional math instruction for up to 7,000 students before the 2012 assessments in March.

I was gratified by The Sun's recent coverage of the National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores showing Maryland students among the most proficient in the nation ("Md. students score higher on Nation's Report Card," Nov. 2). After 20 years at the helm of the Maryland State Department of Education, I know that parents, teachers and administrators across the state - not to mention the students themselves - worked hard to achieve these academic gains. Readers should know that one other sector contributed to Maryland's educational success: Early care and education.

Baltimore's ambitious Tesseract school privatization experiment has failed to significantly improve elementary school student performance in the two years since Education Alternatives Inc. took over the schools, test results released yesterday show.Overall average scores for the eight elementary schools this spring declined in reading and rose slightly in math, compared with results from spring 1992, before EAI took over the schools.The results drew radically different interpretations from opponents and defenders of EAI, a for-profit company based in Minneapolis.

As they prepare to welcome students back in two weeks, city schools CEO Andrés Alonso encouraged hundreds of principals Tuesday to overcome last year's across-the-board test score declines, which he said shouldn't eclipse other successes. "This is an amazing city, but it is a city that can be tough on children and on educators," Alonso said. "We have taken great steps toward transforming our schools so that they can be better. But the enormously difficult work that remains can sometimes seem overwhelming.

The performance of Baltimore's first- and second-grade pupils fell significantly in reading and math on a national standardized test, mirroring the drops on statewide assessments this year. The results show that the academic performance of even the city's youngest students has declined, in some cases by as much as 6 percentage points in a single grade and subject. While a news release sent late Friday emphasized that students are still performing above the national average in some subjects, the system acknowledged that the test scores are a "call to action.