All the kids just got smarter!

All the kids, just got smarter

 

Everyone seems to agree that test scores need to move upward.   The big question is exactly how do we do that.

Well several states have found a guaranteed way to improve test scores.  Oklahoma and Wisconsin have just changed the “cut point”.   So, by lowering the point score needed to be ranked basic, proficient or advanced, the same actual score, gives students a much better rating.  Truly simple.  This approach gives parents the impression that the schools and their child are improving; when, in fact, nothing has changed at all. Easiest approach of all.

Another approach is to reduce graduation requirements and inflate grades by banning failing grades and/or lowering the “fail” grade to 50% instead of the standard 60%.   Both Washington state and North Carolina have used this approach to show that grades are improving since the pandemic.

The approach to the grading crisis seems to be to lower expectations down to where the kids are rather than work with the students to meet the higher standard.

Each state controls its own definition of proficiency and how students can achieve grade level performance.  States aim for grade level proficiency based on their own standards. There is no gold standard in the sky of what equals 3^rd grade reading level.   Consequently, what is 3^rd grade in one state might be 2^nd or 4the in another state.  By moving bar on cut scores, states can automatically improve their proficiency scores.    The alternative approach is to redesign the test to make it easier so kids will do better.  Then tout how much better students are doing.  New York won’t admit to lowering standards.   Instead, they say they are adjusting the tests to what you would expect kids to learn today.  Illinois is the next state to lower the cut off scores so that more students score in the proficient range.

Dr. Cathy Wright, the new superintendent in Maryland, says that approach is all wrong.  She firmly believes that higher standards need to be set and teachers need to be trained to meet those standards.  She has set a goal of a 5% improvement rate each year for the next three years. To achieve that goal, more students will be retained in 3^rd grade if they are not at grade level.

Dr. Wright’s approach is not as sure fire as the other states, but if it works, the kids might just not only be more proficient but even learn more.

 

What do principals have the right to know?

 What do principals have a right to know?

 

Recently, a student in a Howard County public school came to school with a gun and fatally shot another student.   Turns out the student had a record of such offenses.  The principal didn’t know that.  The Superintendent knew the student had a record with the Department of Juvenile Services but was not told how serious the record was.

The question is-who benefits from this system?  Some say it is not fair to the student to carry the burden of past offenses for everyone to know.  How can he start over?   Others say it is the primary duty of the local superintendent and the principal to keep the other students safe.   Can these both be true?

Maryland had a rule that superintendents could share the specifics of reportable offenses (rape, murder, weapons charges) to the receiving superintendent.  They were not required to. Some did, some didn't.   Following the fatal shooting of a student in Columbia, Howard County things changed with lightening speed.

Citizens demanded action from their legislators.  Turned out that wasn’t necessary.  At the next State Board of Education meeting the State Board enacted emergency legislation that requires sending superintendent to notify the receiving superintendent of any transfer student with a reportable offense that has been charged or convicted.   The receiving superintendent is then required to notify the receiving principal.   School districts are required to provide an education to all children between the ages of 5-18 in Maryland.   But that education does not have to be in the comprehensive school with other children.  The measure was passed as an emergency regulation so it went into effect immediately without the usual period of public comment and an open hearing.  The speed was lightening even for emergency rulings.

As usual there are three sides to every story.  Some people are very concerned for the safety of the general population and do not want students with these kinds of past behaviors in the school.  They are concerned about events such as the ones that have recently happened.  Others think this will stigmatize these young people and not give them a chance to change.  This situation will be particularly true if school districts chose to educate delinquents with serious offenses in segregated environments or virtually.   Is there a third option that would protect both sets of kids, those who have offended and those who have not?  Once you have the right to know, what do you do with the information?

Why so many?

 Why so many?

 

The number of American children and adults diagnosed with autism increased 175% in roughly a decade.  This information is according to new research that shows the uptick is particular to a few groups.

In a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open indicated that autism prevalence jumped from 2.3 per thousand to 6.3 per thousand in the roughly one decade studied.  

The biggest jump was seen in adults ages 26-34 which saw an increase of 450%.  This jump included a significant increase of female vs male children.  The highest prevalence was found in children ages 5 to 8.   Kids from racial and ethnic minority groups saw the biggest jump.   But this trend did not hold to adults.

The big question is why???  Have you ever had the experience after buying a blue car to notice how many blue cars there are out there.   Something similar is happening to diagnosing autism.   There has been an expansion of universal development screening that accounts for some of the increase in diagnosis rates.  There is also the notion of status.   Many years ago, the formal diagnosis of learning disabilities became a reality.   Suddenly,  many children who had been diagnosed with mental retardation became learning disabled.  As we learn more about autism, some historians are looking back at famous people and deciding that they too had autism.  Perhaps autism has become a status diagnosis.   People on the spectrum are featured in prime time TV shows.   It has become sort of a boutique diagnosis.

Interestingly, the increase has been more in the higher functioning areas of the spectrum.   Although the increases in the lower functioning areas sends out a call for society to be looking at adult care for these individuals who may not be able to live independently.

What you look for you will find.   Is that true of autism?