Sunday, April 21, 2013

Core meltdown

Published in the New York Daily News, April 19, 2013.

We have been told that the new tests based on the Common Core will result in low scores (“Just what the kids need,” editorial, April 15). What has not been mentioned is that scores are likely to rise for the next few years as teachers and students get used to the format and content. The Common Core will claim the credit for this bogus “improvement.” It will stop after a few years, but by then the apparent success will be considered proven. Stephen Krashen

 ORIGINAL VERSION PLUS NOTES
Will the common core claim credit for bogus test score improvement?
We have been told that the new tests based on the common core will result in low scores (“Just what the kids need,” April 15). What has not been mentioned is that new tests typically result in low scores, and then scores rise for the next few years as teachers and students get used to the test format and content, and teachers learn how to teach to the test. This has been confirmed in studies by Prof. Robert Linn of the University of Colorado. The common core will claim the credit for this bogus “improvement.” The improvement will stop after a few years, but by then the apparent success of the common core will be considered “proven.”
Stephen Krashen

 Source: Linn, R., Graue, E., & Sanders, N. 1990. Comparing state and district test results to national norms: The validity of claims that "everyone is above average." Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice 10: 5-14.

Original article: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/kids-article-1.1315486

PS: This is exactly what happened after California dismantled bilingual education. In 1998, the same year Proposition 227 passed, a new test, the SAT9, was introduced. Scores went up for everybody the first year, and 227 got the credit. Unnoticed was the fact that scores also went up by the same amount for districts that kept bilingual education, and after two years, there were no more gains for anybody. And all the controlled studies showing that bilingual education was superior to all-English for English literacy development was ignored.
 Krashen, S. Why Did Test Scores Go up in California? A Response to Unz/Reinhard. http://www.languagepolicy.net/archives/Krash10.htm

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