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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
Did you see the TV story Oct 17 about the ""model"" schools
in Texas getting high marks through fraudulent reports of dropouts? And the coverups throughout management? The guy who exposed it from a few levels down had to go to the media before it exploded. They were purposefully omitting names and statistics, altering statistics, and falsely labeling kids as having transferred to schools - fabricated LIES. They discovered it has been endemic, many schools there have been doing this. The "best schools in the nation" models are less than advertized. |
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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
"Greg Hanson" wrote in message om... Did you see the TV story Oct 17 about the ""model"" schools in Texas getting high marks through fraudulent reports of dropouts? And the coverups throughout management? The guy who exposed it from a few levels down had to go to the media before it exploded. They were purposefully omitting names and statistics, altering statistics, and falsely labeling kids as having transferred to schools - fabricated LIES. They discovered it has been endemic, many schools there have been doing this. The "best schools in the nation" models are less than advertized. Though many might disagree, I recall another fraud. It's called grading on a curve. Way back when, when too many kids were failing cuz they couldn't answer 75% of the test questions correctly. No one stopped to consider that the teachers weren't teaching. The grade curve made up for teacher deficiences. I can recall when answering one-half of the test questions correctly consituted an A. I disputed this with teachers but got nowhere.Many kids received credit for one-half of the education they thought they had acheived. The truth came out only when they had to compete with others and learned, too late, they were so far behind. So much for the quality of schools and teachers. bobb |
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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
They also got in trouble for cherry picking for
educational testing. They weeded out kids they THOUGHT would not pass the testing. They put a large block of bad students into Special Education just to keep them from taking the standardized testing that the school is judged on. More abuse of Special Education or Special Needs. |
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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
"Greg Hanson" wrote in message om... They also got in trouble for cherry picking for educational testing. They weeded out kids they THOUGHT would not pass the testing. They put a large block of bad students into Special Education just to keep them from taking the standardized testing that the school is judged on. More abuse of Special Education or Special Needs. Given that current law labels a school as low performing if their special needs students don't perform on grade level, putting students in special education doesn't help at all-and may hurt, if it gets your special ed block large enough to count under the law. Only 1% of students can be exempted from the test and given alternative assessments. All other special education students must take the standard test at their grade level. The number required for the scores to count differs from state to state. In TN, it is 45 students in the tested grades, total-which means any school with any size whatsoever will have such scores count. |
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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
In article ,
"Donna Metler" wrote: "Greg Hanson" wrote in message om... They also got in trouble for cherry picking for educational testing. They weeded out kids they THOUGHT would not pass the testing. They put a large block of bad students into Special Education just to keep them from taking the standardized testing that the school is judged on. More abuse of Special Education or Special Needs. Given that current law labels a school as low performing if their special needs students don't perform on grade level, putting students in special education doesn't help at all-and may hurt, if it gets your special ed block large enough to count under the law. Only 1% of students can be exempted from the test and given alternative assessments. All other special education students must take the standard test at their grade level. The number required for the scores to count differs from state to state. In TN, it is 45 students in the tested grades, total-which means any school with any size whatsoever will have such scores count. the law is designed to designate most public schools as failures -- they require kids who don't speak English to perform in English at grade level [the school only has to fail in one category e.g. these ESL kids to fail as a school] they measure school success with kids who weren't even there in a high turnover district until the end of the year, they require retarded kids to score at grade level --- it is part of the GOP plan to dismantle public schools and channel tax money into religious schools |
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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
On Mon, 20 Oct 2003, bobb wrote: "Greg Hanson" wrote in message om... Did you see the TV story Oct 17 about the ""model"" schools in Texas getting high marks through fraudulent reports of dropouts? And the coverups throughout management? The guy who exposed it from a few levels down had to go to the media before it exploded. They were purposefully omitting names and statistics, altering statistics, and falsely labeling kids as having transferred to schools - fabricated LIES. They discovered it has been endemic, many schools there have been doing this. The "best schools in the nation" models are less than advertized. Though many might disagree, I recall another fraud. It's called grading on a curve. Way back when, when too many kids were failing cuz they couldn't answer 75% of the test questions correctly. No one stopped to consider that the teachers weren't teaching. The grade curve made up for teacher deficiences. I can recall when answering one-half of the test questions correctly consituted an A. I disputed this with teachers but got nowhere.Many kids received credit for one-half of the education they thought they had acheived. The truth came out only when they had to compete with others and learned, too late, they were so far behind. So much for the quality of schools and teachers. It was my experience in h.s. that kids often worked the curve deliberately. Had nothing to do with the teacher (except he was dumb enough to fall for the trick). Some time into the scam (this was biology), my friend Kate and I decided to throw the curve and we got 97% or whatever on the next test - throwing the curve into a nose dive. The other kids were very angry but it stopped the nonsense and we were able to get back to what should have been normal. Then I went to college and my biology professor fell for the same crud. |
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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
"Donna Metler" wrote in message ...
"Greg Hanson" wrote in message om... They also got in trouble for cherry picking for educational testing. They weeded out kids they THOUGHT would not pass the testing. They put a large block of bad students into Special Education just to keep them from taking the standardized testing that the school is judged on. More abuse of Special Education or Special Needs. Given that current law labels a school as low performing if their special needs students don't perform on grade level, putting students in special education doesn't help at all-and may hurt, if it gets your special ed block large enough to count under the law. Only 1% of students can be exempted from the test and given alternative assessments. All other special education students must take the standard test at their grade level. The number required for the scores to count differs from state to state. In TN, it is 45 students in the tested grades, total-which means any school with any size whatsoever will have such scores count. Hmmm. Somehow I fail to find this argument convincing in a threat that started with documented lies and deliberate falsification of numbers in the measurements that are being attempted in the effort to make our schools more accountable to the citizens who are paying for them. While the regulations you are claiming may indeed exist, I have a hard time having much faith in whatever numbers are being reported officially. And the average citizens faith becomes, in my opinion, is the real victim of those bureaurocratic lies. And then people wonder why so many citizens refuse to vote for tax increases for education. |
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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 16:57:36 GMT, "bobb" wrote:
Though many might disagree, I recall another fraud. It's called grading on a curve. Way back when, when too many kids were failing cuz they couldn't answer 75% of the test questions correctly. No one stopped to consider that the teachers weren't teaching. The grade curve made up for teacher deficiences. I can recall when answering one-half of the test questions correctly consituted an A. I disputed this with teachers but got nowhere.Many kids received credit for one-half of the education they thought they had acheived. The truth came out only when they had to compete with others and learned, too late, they were so far behind. So much for the quality of schools and teachers. Bobb, you misunderstand the purpose of curving grades and you also misunderstand that the facts about it depend on the course and the depth of the questions. While a multiple choice test graded this way might be indicative of poor teaching, it also might be indicative of political pressure from above to pass students (this does happen and it isn't always the teaching that is at fault, though it sometimes is). When a course, however, is taught on a high level and tests are used as learning devices, often a curve in terms of the grades in the course is justifiable. My son's honors physics, honors chemistry and honors math courses were all graded this way. 60% was a B, 80% was an A. He, however, learned all of these subjects to a much higher level that any of the kids who earned 90% on tests in the regular classes because the questions on his tests required him to come up with new ways to use the knowledge he had gained in the class, not just to regurgitate facts. -- Dorothy There is no sound, no cry in all the world that can be heard unless someone listens .. The Outer Limits |
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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
In article ,
toto wrote: On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 16:57:36 GMT, "bobb" wrote: Though many might disagree, I recall another fraud. It's called grading on a curve. Way back when, when too many kids were failing cuz they couldn't answer 75% of the test questions correctly. No one stopped to consider that the teachers weren't teaching. The grade curve made up for teacher deficiences. I can recall when answering one-half of the test questions correctly consituted an A. I disputed this with teachers but got nowhere.Many kids received credit for one-half of the education they thought they had acheived. The truth came out only when they had to compete with others and learned, too late, they were so far behind. So much for the quality of schools and teachers. Bobb, you misunderstand the purpose of curving grades and you also misunderstand that the facts about it depend on the course and the depth of the questions. While a multiple choice test graded this way might be indicative of poor teaching, it also might be indicative of political pressure from above to pass students (this does happen and it isn't always the teaching that is at fault, though it sometimes is). When a course, however, is taught on a high level and tests are used as learning devices, often a curve in terms of the grades in the course is justifiable. My son's honors physics, honors chemistry and honors math courses were all graded this way. 60% was a B, 80% was an A. He, however, learned all of these subjects to a much higher level that any of the kids who earned 90% on tests in the regular classes because the questions on his tests required him to come up with new ways to use the knowledge he had gained in the class, not just to regurgitate facts. If a set percentage was always a B, and a different percentage always an A, then the course was NOT graded on a curve. If it is graded on a curve, the teacher scores all the tests, and says the top 5% are A's, the next 10% B's, the next 50% C's (these percentages are pulled out of the air: different teachers will have different percentages that the use.) The point is that you don't know what raw score you have to get to get an A until all the scores are in, because the teacher "grades on the curve". There are problems with it -- but there are also problems with a standard that says some arbitrary percentage is always an A. If, say 100 kids take a class for which they have all met the prerequisites, and only 1 gets an A while 15 flunk -- then either there was a lousy teacher, or there was a lousy grading system in place. Not all teachers seem capable of teaching, and some who teach well seem incapable of writing a decent test. I see a real problem with different grades depending upon which teacher you get, right through college: some teachers grade pretty easy, some grade very tough. Last year my son took a college chemistry course which had, as a prerequisite, either a high school chemistry class passed with a C or better, or an intro college class. Of the 40 or so students who started the class, only 15 finished -- and of those, there was 1 A, a few Bs and C's, and an astonishing number of F's. The teacher undoubtedly thinks he's a tough but fair teacher who is weeding out the kids who can't cut it. My son says he's a jackass who is a crappy teacher and shouldn't be allowed in a classroom. (For credibility here, I should like to point out that my son got a B.) Sometimes I think UC-Santa Cruz has the right answer -- no grades, just a narrative description of how well the student did and a pass/fail for every class. meh -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
#10
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Texas Schools Felony Fraud numbers of dropouts
"abacus" wrote in message om... "Donna Metler" wrote in message ... "Greg Hanson" wrote in message om... They also got in trouble for cherry picking for educational testing. They weeded out kids they THOUGHT would not pass the testing. They put a large block of bad students into Special Education just to keep them from taking the standardized testing that the school is judged on. More abuse of Special Education or Special Needs. Given that current law labels a school as low performing if their special needs students don't perform on grade level, putting students in special education doesn't help at all-and may hurt, if it gets your special ed block large enough to count under the law. Only 1% of students can be exempted from the test and given alternative assessments. All other special education students must take the standard test at their grade level. The number required for the scores to count differs from state to state. In TN, it is 45 students in the tested grades, total-which means any school with any size whatsoever will have such scores count. Hmmm. Somehow I fail to find this argument convincing in a threat that started with documented lies and deliberate falsification of numbers in the measurements that are being attempted in the effort to make our schools more accountable to the citizens who are paying for them. While the regulations you are claiming may indeed exist, I have a hard time having much faith in whatever numbers are being reported officially. And the average citizens faith becomes, in my opinion, is the real victim of those bureaurocratic lies. And then people wonder why so many citizens refuse to vote for tax increases for education. Again, read the federal NCLB law. If less than 95% of the children in a school don't TAKE the test, the school is considered to be failing. Same with any sub-group. While frauds have happened in the past, they largely occurred BEFORE this went into effect, and the requirements for reporting increased. Believe me, there are so many people scrutinizing our records and our school now that we trip over them in the halls-precisely because some schools have done unethical things in the past. |
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