History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Test changes ‘inflate’ API scores
- 09-14-2010
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Blog by John Fensterwald/Educated Guess
On annual report card day Tuesday, the State Department of Education announced that schools averaged double-digit increases on the Academic Performance Index, the chief measure of school progress, with highest gains for minority children. While this is very good news, a retired school testing executive from Monterey with an eye for data says “Curb some of that enthusiasm.” More than a quarter of the gain over the past three years – 11 of 39 points on average for elementary schools – is undeserved. The reported figures are the result, Doug McRae says, of changes in methodology that “inflated” scores. Starting three years ago, students with disabilities who did poorly on the annual California Standards Tests, the chief component of schools’ and districts’ API scores, started taking a new and easier version of the test: the California Modified Assessments. (more...)
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