teacher assaulted by student, and caught on video

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by kstar

It is also ludicrous that you would assume that test scores have any basis of anything.

They are an indicator as to what kind of a learning environment exists. When 7% are passing a test as compared to 70% of their peers statewide, something is not right.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by Kevin

They are an indicator as to what kind of a learning environment exists. When 7% are passing a test as compared to 70% of their peers statewide, something is not right.

I want you to remember 3 things:

Test scores should not be taken at face value, ignoring the various factors that influence them: for example, demographic changes in test takers or inflation of scores caused by test-based accountability, or in laymen's terms, teachers that "teach the test." Students aren't actually learning how to think, they learn the only the subjects covered by the test and how to take tests. There was a charter school in OKC (maybe the one your wife teaches at? I don't know...) that raised test scores significantly after they hired someone to come in and teach special test taking strategies to the students each day.

Simple aggregate scores are not a sufficient basis for evaluating education--unless they provide enough information to rule out noneducational influences on performance. Most test-score databases do not offer that kind of information.

Education is a complex mix of successes and failures, the teaching has to be tailored for each individual group of students, and what works for one teacher or student might not work for another. Unfortunately, this is often ignored.