For
those who haven't heard, there was a page missing from the 2016 New York
State ELA test booklets for grades 3-8. Given the excessive
importance given to these tests, the enormous amount of money spent on
creating, prepping for, and administering these tests, this omission has
to be important in some way. I admit I continued to be
confused why there is so little public discussion about the missing test
booklet page. Even amongst my colleagues, there is a general sense that
it is a minor detail not worth wondering or worrying about.
While some might say I'm just
looking for stuff to complain about, I maintain that the missing page has much
more significant implications.
Here are some things worthy of
pondering:
•
Even if you personally don't plan
your writing ahead of time, many students do (particularly students who have
been test-prepped for months and given a "formula" for writing high
scoring essays.) Your personal feelings about the importance of a
planning page doesn't make the absence of one any less important to those
students that needed it.
•
The test booklet directions, as
well as the directions read aloud by teachers, refer to a "planning
page" that wasn't there.
•
Students are instructed not to go
past "stop signs" nor to write in any spaces not designated for
answers.
•
A main intent of these tests is to
claim a standardized (read: "irrefutable") ranking of students across
the State. But standardized test scores require standardized testing
conditions. On Wednesday, April 6th, only some students were alerted to
accommodations they could make in the absence of the official "planning
page." Other students did not receive that advantage. Blank pages
were only available in some grades' test booklets, and occurred after the
"stop signs" that test takers are instructed not to turn past.
TO SUMMARIZE - a planning page, critical for organized and
coherent writing for some students, was missing in all test booklets. Only
some students were instructed on alternative spaces to use for planning. CONCLUSION
- all students did NOT test under standardized (read: "the same")
conditions.
•
What protocols does the testing
company Questar have in place to insure accurate, error-free publishing of
standardized test booklets? How and why did the protocols fail? Is
there any consequence to the testing company for its error of omission? What
other errors may have been made that are far less obvious?
•
Can the scores of the essay on Day
2 of NYS ELA testing be considered valid under the conditions outlined above? (read:
"Testing conditions were not standardized across the State. Valid
scores require standardized conditions.")
Just some food
for thought...
Your thoughts?
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