Pennsylvania Applying for Differentiated Accountability?

I spoke with a source at the Pennsylvania Department of Education about the possibility of Pennsylvania applying for Director Spellings' pilot program of Differentiated Accountability. The source said that it appeared that Pennsylvania had eligibility, but "they" still were not sure if they were going to apply for the pilot program. The program only will accept ten states which makes it competitive, and there was only a short time until the suggested application due date of May 2, 2008. After the May deadline, there may be a press release regarding the decision. Since the source considers bloggers to have "reporter status", that was the only information that I could obtain. I guess we will have to wait and see!
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Subjectivity in PSSA Scoring

The Technical Report for the PSSA for 2007 is on the PA Department of Education website. This report is compiled by DRC to explain the PSSA test development and implementation process for a given year. After reviewing some items from the Technical Report for the PSSA 2007, I am still upset that the open ended questions have a large degree of subjectivity involved in the grading process. As previously stated in an earlier blog, 10% of the tests are subject to a review by more than one "scorer" to determine if there is accuracy between the grade given by one scorer on an open ended question as opposed to the grade another scorer would give the same question. According to the Technical Report 2007 pg 51, two different scorers have only a 70 to 80 percent chance of giving the same score to the same Reading question. In other words, if two educated and trained professionals read the same answer, the two of them are only 70-80 percent likely to give the same score. Many times the readers will give adjacent scores, (adjacent scores are scores that are beside each other, i.e. a score of 2 versus 3). Of course, that would happen when the answer can only receive a score of zero to 3. (Three is the total points allowable for a Reading open ended question. Math open ended questions can receive scores of zero to four points.) To the state's credit, the Math open ended answers have a higher percentage of scoring accuracy. Perhaps the scores are higher because Math is a more cut and dry subject than is Reading. Then again, perhaps the scorers were just tired the day they reviewed Reading. Maybe even as tired as the child who wrote the answer...
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Researching Differentiated Accountability

I just want everyone to know that I am researching whether or not Pennsylvania will be applying for Director Spellings pilot program of Differentiated Accountability. Basically, Differentiated Accountability will allow schools who do not make their AYP numbers to show why they are not making the numbers and follow up with interventions that are appropriate to the reasons. This makes sense in theory as some schools have a large proportion of their student population identified as needing improvement and others are not making AYP goals because of a small subgroup of students that may be having trouble reaching the targeted goal. In each of these cases, the changes that would need to be made would be quite different As far as I have read, only 10 states will be accepted into the program. Two calls to the Pa Dept of Education have not been returned...
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PSSA Is Finally Over!

Yeah! My son finished his PSSA test and I feel like dancing! I am not sure how he did on the test. The teacher said that he really did not feel like working on it the first day and was rather lethargic about the whole thing. The second and third day went a little better particularly in the Math portion of the test.



He is very glad to be finished with the PSSA prep booklets and vocabulary. In his words, "We get to go back to our regular (textbooks) books now." He is sooo right. Putting off learning the "normal" curriculum to make time for the PSSA prep should not occur. After all, if the students are learning what they are supposed to learn, why do we need the PSSA prep?



I know, I know...too much at stake, too many students needs the drills to "pass". etc. However, if we just drill the PSSA test for six weeks, the results the PSSA gives are actually distorted. It is really just cramming. There are no follow up tests to see if the student retains this information.
What a sham! I am glad it is over for this year anyway!
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PSSA Day!

Dear Students,

The American Dream will become one step harder for you today. No longer can you work your way to success no matter what your background because today you will take the PSSA test. Your parents and teachers will receive a report giving you a label of advanced, proficient, basic, or below basic. Your classes will be picked for you based on this label. Consequently, your career choice will be narrowed based on this one test. Your educational experience already has been narrowed so that you can prepare for these few hours. Some of you will have recess, art, and music taken away to help you score well on this test. Your written answers will be analyzed by "readers" that have their own opinions resulting in a score received that may or may not be fair. A true American trait of "thinking outside of the box" and individuality will be demolished as you and everyone else must see the same thing in poetry and stories. Instead of going outside and figuring out how high your school is based on mathematics and formulas, you will stay inside and continue to fill in bubbles. You may work hard in school and get decent grades, but still the PSSA test will be more important. You may be a powerful speaker, be able to deal with people well, be good at driving, be dependable, and be compassionate or any number of other important life skills. Yet, the PSSA test does not take these into account. Your label will be stamped on your file, just as a post office stamps each letter with a postmark. Students, please do not carry the label around on your person and do not let it interfere with the American Dream. Your life is your own, your education is your entitlement. Let your government know that you demand more from them than a stamp from one test.
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Proficiency on the PSSA Test

Why does my son do well on the PSSA Math exam and not on the Reading portion of the test? Why does he score well on his Accelerated Reader tests, Star Reader tests, and even the Woodcock Johnson, but not the PSSA? After reviewing the PSSA test last week, I have solved this perplexing mystery.

Math is a subject that is presented in limited ways to a child of his age. The Math on the PSSA test very much parallels the practice sheets that he is assigned in his Academic Math class. On the other hand, by its very nature, reading has more room for variances. Not only are the stories going to be different from what is studied in class, but the interpretation of the story will be different from student to student. My son is a student that does not easily transfer the skills of interpretation and evaluation, but instead relies on his he does not have the chance to study the Reading and reap the benefits of the teacher/classmate discussion of the passage.

What to do with this new found information? Absolutely nothing. More prep work is not going to help. We are already working on the skills of transference, inferences, and evaluation. I am confident that we are thoroughly working with my son to make sure he learns as much as possible. Reviewing the PSSA test has confirmed that pursuing the "proficient score" will only interfere with the time needed to work on other skills that he will need in life. Proficiency on the PSSA test will not help him become successful. To all of you, I recommend reading the PSSA test so that you can come to your own conclusions about your child before the school and the government do that for you.
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I read the PSSA today.

This morning I reviewed the PSSA test that my son will take in a few weeks. The Guidance Counselor sat with me in a small meeting room as I read through the exam. The total time to review the 7th grade test was approximately one hour. I did not have to sign a confidentiality agreement, but I was asked to write down the fact that I reviewed the test on a piece of paper. If I wanted to, I could state why I was reading the test and then state my findings. I wrote the date and that my reason for reading the test was to determine if the test was fair and appropriate.


The exam actually consists of two booklets. One contains all the Math and Reading questions. The other is the answer booklet which has the infamous "bubbles" and the area where the students respond to open ended questions. The bubbles are much better than those of yesteryear. They are not crammed together onto one sheet. Instead each section has its bubbles placed on separate pages. This really eliminates confusion and the possibility of "skipping" a bubble. Unfortunately, the exam is set up so that the students must go back and forth from the exam booklet to the answer booklet. As a first time reader, I found the format a little confusing at first, but became used to it over time. The open ended questions are in the answer booklet, so the exam booklet gives directions at the end of a section such as "go to page 23 in the answer booklet and answer question 15". I found this confusing because the answer booklet page numbers were in a light shade and did not stand out on the page. Attention DRC (Data Recognition Corp.): A bright shade of red would make the pages easier to find.

The math had some of the same problems (with the numbers switched) as what my son has done in class. The open ended questions are similar in format as in class with the exception of some awkward wording. For example, a two part question is often segregated by a page break and the directions are given as "refer to specifics of the previous page to answer". I am sure I am not quoting this exactly, but I felt that for seventh grade the statement is hard to decipher. The math problems range from easy to complex.

The Reading test is difficult. Mechanically, I felt that there is not enough delineation between two different passages that the students are supposed to compare. Moreover, the subject matter is one in which I felt that some of the student's experience will limit them in answering the open ended questions. Figurative language is tested in a way that is similar to the sample question on this website. (PSSA sample questions).

Most reading passages have underlined words that the students must refer back to in order to determine the meaning of the underlined word. It will help a braille reader if it is allowable to have their hand guided back to the underlined word since, in being able to see the text, the visual reader certainly has the advantage in this situation. If my child was visually impaired it would be something I would ask about before he took the test.

Most of the open ended questions require the reader to cite examples from the text. The kind of questions asked are ones that I just want to say "Who Cares? Justify your existence in another way other than making up questions for this test." (Nasty, aren't I?) When reading the passages, I could always tell which parts there would be a question on because these paragraphs are particularly vague. After all, we need to separate the advanced from the proficient, the proficient from the basic, and allow the below basic to be totally blown away. Isn't that what the test does so well?

Some reading passages require the reading of recipes and step by step instructions. While I know these are important parts of our lives, I am sure that it is difficult for seventh graders to uphold interest in these subjects much less answer questions on them.

Generally, I can see why the reading open ended scores produce more variance than the math open ended scores. That is, when the open ended questions are graded, the scores given by two separate scorers are different even while reading the same answer from the same student. Much of the process is subjective based on one's interpretation of the passage and what would be an ideal expected answer. From a child's perspective, differences in beliefs, experiences, interests, and ideas will influence the way any given student understands, interprets, and answers these questions.

After reviewing this test, I realize that the quest to learn even the basic of skills entails so much more than what the PSSA or any other test could possibly reflect. Now more than ever, I truly cannot believe that we use this test to judge our children and label our schools. There are other ways to build student proficiency. They are called classroom exams, hands on activities, individualized education, smaller classes, quality teachers, strong, involved parents, dedicated school boards, and government funding that rewards all of these components.
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