Soul Crushing Work Continues
Reading Load
STAAR blueprints tell us that the reading load is
English I: 6000 words for the base passages and 1950 for the field test
English II: same
Retests don't have field test questions as far as I know. And the word count does not include the questions.
Hasbrook and Tindall tell us that oral reading fluency norms by 6th grade ought to be at 204 words per minute to be in the 90th percentile. This was for word accuracy and did not include comprehension.
So...if a kid were reading aloud the 6000 words at 204 words correct per minute, they'd need 29.4117647 minutes to read all the passages. I haven't counted the number of words in the questions in a while, but it's a lot.
MOST of the time needed for the exam is COGNITIVE rereading and reasoning. Even if they could read it all. in 29 minutes, that's not enough time for the questions or the actual work of the exam.
Are we teaching that it takes more than 30 minutes? And why don't they have something to pace the exam like the driver's education courses or the food handler's license? "You haven't viewed the whole module. Please revisit the course material." "You haven't spent enough time on this content for mastery. Please resume the course." "You finished too quickly, please revisit the module." "Your test patterns suggest guessing, please resume the test to avoid invalidating your results."
So why do kids who won't turn in their tests so early? Why will they probably fail again?
Test administrators can't make them take longer. They can't make them use strategies. In one school, kids started the retest at 8:30 and only 2 of those who showed up - even the late ones - were still testing at 10:30. Most of them turned in the exam before an hour was up. And several of those turned in the exam before 30 minutes.
They didn't read the essays. They didn't look for text evidence. They didn't do anything they had been taught. They didn't write much on the ECR/SCR, if anything. No one picked up or asked for a dictionary or paper. And they couldn't do a dad gum thing about it except watch the same train wreck again.
Y'all. This ISN'T an instructional issue. Teachers have zero control over this stuff. And you can argue with me and point to making relationships and positive classroom environments. Teachers ARE doing that. It's not enough. You can talk to me about poverty, and I'll agree with you. But anything else is a mell of a hess.
This is so spot on! Having taught HS English for 30 years, and recently retired, I cannot tell you how many times this scenario plays out. It starts at home. These students are often the ones who don’t come from strong, supportive families. They don’t see value in a test that someone else says they have to take. They see little value in education. Period. Is it poverty? Yes…sometimes. But not always. More importantly, it is the lack of trust that this is what will get them where they need to be or want to be. All too often these students have not seen education serve them well. How do we fix that? What can we do to “make” them value learning? It starts at home with parents and extended family who value learning. That’s cultural. We must fix our culture to prize learning for learning’s sake. Not for the A. Not for the degree (though that is useful). But simply for the sake of learning! We must reward curiosity and invention. We must value perseverance. We must honor knowledge. JMO
ReplyDeleteThe problem is the artificial nature of a government imposed test. It is not from or of their educational experience. It is a thing somebody in Austin has decided I have to do. Why? Because they said so. Try that reasoning with an obstinate unengaged teenager. Kids feel powerless in many ways. Saying no is a way to wield some power against the establishment. It is also a shooting youself in the foot move, but they dont get that.The teacher gets blamed and that stinks.
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