Happy 70th birthday (yesterday) to Tony Auth, illustrator of Norb and various Pinkwater paperback covers.
All Things Good and True reviews Mrs. Noodlekugel.
Sigh.
Every once in a while the storytelling gods pry open a crevice in what is otherwise a crucial but deadly dull policy debate and, like clowns from a toy car, out tumble examples of idiocy so dead-on Jon Stewart could not improve on them.
Pearson defends test question
In a letter to the State Education Department disclosed on Friday, the company, Pearson, said the passage about a pineapple that races a hare, included in a test administered to eighth graders, was used to measure students’ understanding of character traits, motivation and behavior.The company said the question had been used in several other states without complaints. But Pearson did not mention that the question was mocked on a Facebook page established in 2010 and on a blog starting with a 2007 post from a parent in Illinois, who was soon joined by a long string of others in Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico and now, New York. [...]
Sharon Emick Fougner, a principal in Great Neck, N.Y., who wrote a letter on Tuesday to the state education commissioner, John B. King Jr., asking for a review of the math tests, said in an e-mail on Friday: “The only thing more absurd than ‘The Hare and the Pineapple’ is Pearson’s lengthy, verbose and ludicrous defense of this passage. If the tests had not been so damaging to children, this memo would be comical.”
(Note: so much as I sympathize with Fougner ... how is the Hare and Pineapple story and test questions "damaging to children", other than I suppose with the "opportunity costs" of better uses of class-time?)
OR More to the point: As a current student at Clarkstown North High School, I have often heard teachers undermine “Honors” topics in the curriculum with “Don’t bother studying this topic; it won’t be on the Regents.”
All Things Good and True reviews Mrs. Noodlekugel.
Sigh.
Every once in a while the storytelling gods pry open a crevice in what is otherwise a crucial but deadly dull policy debate and, like clowns from a toy car, out tumble examples of idiocy so dead-on Jon Stewart could not improve on them.
Pearson defends test question
In a letter to the State Education Department disclosed on Friday, the company, Pearson, said the passage about a pineapple that races a hare, included in a test administered to eighth graders, was used to measure students’ understanding of character traits, motivation and behavior.The company said the question had been used in several other states without complaints. But Pearson did not mention that the question was mocked on a Facebook page established in 2010 and on a blog starting with a 2007 post from a parent in Illinois, who was soon joined by a long string of others in Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico and now, New York. [...]
Sharon Emick Fougner, a principal in Great Neck, N.Y., who wrote a letter on Tuesday to the state education commissioner, John B. King Jr., asking for a review of the math tests, said in an e-mail on Friday: “The only thing more absurd than ‘The Hare and the Pineapple’ is Pearson’s lengthy, verbose and ludicrous defense of this passage. If the tests had not been so damaging to children, this memo would be comical.”
(Note: so much as I sympathize with Fougner ... how is the Hare and Pineapple story and test questions "damaging to children", other than I suppose with the "opportunity costs" of better uses of class-time?)
OR More to the point: As a current student at Clarkstown North High School, I have often heard teachers undermine “Honors” topics in the curriculum with “Don’t bother studying this topic; it won’t be on the Regents.”
Merryl H. Tisch, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, said Friday that she thought the pineapple question made sense in context, but that in hindsight, the passage should not have been used because it added fuel to arguments by those who oppose using testing in teacher evaluations.
“Listen, I’m not going to defend the pineapple story,” Dr. Tisch said. “I don’t like excuses. When you need to execute something, you need to do it. I don’t believe this chorus of, ‘Well, these mistakes happen all the time.’”
But she said the furor had been amplified by the antitesting movement and had given ammunition to opponents of using testing to evaluate students and teachers.
Such as...
According to Pinkwater, "If a pineapple were funnier, I would have written a pineapple in the first place.".
According to Pinkwater, "If a pineapple were funnier, I would have written a pineapple in the first place.".
AND
It was the testmakers' brilliant idea to add pineapples to this story. The originally moral was “Never bet on an eggplant,” not, "Pineapples don't have sleeves" (although I can't decide if the original version was anymore intelligent.) Pinkwater, as you can imagine, was not too thrilled about these revisions. He said, “This was done by somebody who was barely literate.”
It was the testmakers' brilliant idea to add pineapples to this story. The originally moral was “Never bet on an eggplant,” not, "Pineapples don't have sleeves" (although I can't decide if the original version was anymore intelligent.) Pinkwater, as you can imagine, was not too thrilled about these revisions. He said, “This was done by somebody who was barely literate.”
Meantime
Pearson, the test maker under fire for several recent gaffes, has had a fourth question thrown out by New York state education officials. This time it was a math question where the test incorrectly asked students to double the length of two sides of a trapezoid and measure the new perimeter when they had meant to ask students to double the length of three sides. As asked the question assumed knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem — something not typically taught to fifth-graders.
John B. King Jr, commissioner of the State Education Department suggested that Pearson is being unfairly attacked by people with their own agenda; that the scorn over thepineapple and the hare parable was more indicative of increased student access to social media than a sudden failure in testing standards.
(My remark: Probably. Good for the kids, I say, and for once a good use of social media.)
Pearson, the test maker under fire for several recent gaffes, has had a fourth question thrown out by New York state education officials. This time it was a math question where the test incorrectly asked students to double the length of two sides of a trapezoid and measure the new perimeter when they had meant to ask students to double the length of three sides. As asked the question assumed knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem — something not typically taught to fifth-graders.
John B. King Jr, commissioner of the State Education Department suggested that Pearson is being unfairly attacked by people with their own agenda; that the scorn over thepineapple and the hare parable was more indicative of increased student access to social media than a sudden failure in testing standards.
(My remark: Probably. Good for the kids, I say, and for once a good use of social media.)
This blogger goes all negative political ad -- "Tell me, Commisioner King" -- on the issues.
So my questions are simple Commissioner King. Since our students have suffered through 6 grueling days of tests, and many teachers are now struggling to accurately score this garbage, who is responsible for the poor scoring instructions?
So my questions are simple Commissioner King. Since our students have suffered through 6 grueling days of tests, and many teachers are now struggling to accurately score this garbage, who is responsible for the poor scoring instructions?
Steve Kinney says: At the same time, the status quo is looking increasing ridiculous. The state tests are filled with absurd stories about sleeveless pineapples butchered to make even less sense and coupled with cryptic questions. New standards and initiatives read like vague versions of the old standards and initiatives. They are struggling to keep up and it’s starting to show.
My students know it. For days after the New York State ELA exam, my inbox was filled with articles from my students covering the controversy over the “The Pineapple and the Hare.”
Ignore everybody. Dig into deeper problems. Do something awesome.
My students know it. For days after the New York State ELA exam, my inbox was filled with articles from my students covering the controversy over the “The Pineapple and the Hare.”
Ignore everybody. Dig into deeper problems. Do something awesome.
posted by Howie at 9:34 AM
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