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9486 in the collection
Johnny fails in Indianapolis, too: Cleveland scores hardly unique
Ohanian Comment:
What do you think of this CTB/McGraw-Hill writing prompt for 10th graders in Indiana?
Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa and 1993
winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, wrote the following in his
autobiography:
“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains
unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”
Write a narrative composition in which you tell about a person
who returns to a familiar environment or situation and realizes
that he or she has changed, while the place itself has remained
the same. Your narrative composition could be based on your
own experiences, those of a person you know or have read
about, or something you have made up. In your writing, describe
the main character, the circumstances that took the character
away from the familiar environment, and the character’s
experiences upon returning to that environment.
Over and over, my quarrel with CTB/McGraw-Hill is that their tests make no attempt to touch the student psychology. They are written from an adult perspective.
And then there's the reading passage: "Gertrude Ederle," from How She Played the Game, by Cynthia L. Cooper, one of a series of dramatic monologues spoken by women sports stars of the past. Students are informed that their individual stories are dramatized by one actress, who plays all of the roles.
Most people would agree that plays are meant to be seen, not read, but in Indiana, play reading is a requirement for a high school diploma.
[SHE half recites the letter. Sound on tape.]
“What a bully1 accomplishment to be
the first woman to swim the English Channel
1bully: excellent, splendid
***
“I know the people in the boat think
they’re looking out for the swimmer.
But, Mr. Burgess, you’re not a member
of the Women’s Swimming Association
we have in New York City. You saw the
Victrola3 they installed in the boat?
With my favorites— ‘Yes. We Have No
Bananas’—and ‘Let Me Call You
Sweetheart’? They want me to make it!”
3Victrola: a wind-up record player
How many I-Pod users will understand the footnote that ostensibly explains "Victrola?"
And how about these songs. Students reading this probably won't even know they are songs. I agree with E. D. Hirsch when he observes that reading about such things is how students gain cultural literacy, but it is unfortunate and unfair to spring such esoterica on students in a test. Never mind about whether "Yes. We Have No Bananas" is important cultural baggage.
There's more. Plenty more.
Journalists do the public a disservice when they don't bother to give samples from the tests that students are failing. The public is left with the impression that students can read when the truth of the matter may be that they are baffled by things like Victrolas.
I am very disheartened to see one of my favorite poets granting permission for her writing to be used on a test that denies high schoolers a diploma.
CTB is indebted to the following for permission to use material in this book.
“The Hummingbird that Lived Through Winter” from My Kind of Crazy, Wonderful People: Seventeen Stories and a Play," copyright © 1944
and renewed 1972 by William Saroyan. Reprinted by permission of Harcourt Inc.
“Snow Geese” from Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver, copyright © 2004 by Mary Oliver.
Snow Geese
by Mary Oliver
Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last!
What a task
to ask
of anything, or anyone,
yet it is ours,
and not by the century or the year, but by the hours.
One fall day I heard
above me, and above the sting of the wind, a sound
I did not know, and my look shot upward; it was
a flock of snow geese, winging it
faster than the ones we usually see,
and, being the color of snow, catching the sun
so they were, in part at least, golden. I
held my breath
as we do
sometimes
to stop time
when something wonderful
has touched us
as with a match
which is lit, and bright,
but does not hurt
in the common way,
but delightfully,
as if delight
were the most serious thing
you ever felt.
The geese
flew on.
I have never
seen them again.
Maybe I will, someday, somewhere.
Maybe I won’t.
It doesn’t matter.
What matters
is that, when I saw them,
I saw them
as through the veil, secretly, joyfully, clearly.
Read these lines from the poem.
a flock of snow geese, winging it
faster than the ones we usually see,
and, being the color of snow, catching the sun
so they were, in part at least, golden.
What image do these lines MOST LIKELY create for the reader?
- aerial navigation
- an icy landscape
- a graceful beauty
- hasty movement
Read these lines from the poem.
What matters
is that, when I saw them,
I saw them
as through the veil, secretly, joyfully, clearly.
These lines indicate that the speaker
- finds nature confusing
- takes pleasure in life’s surprises
- thinks seeing something should be kept secret
- appears not to have seen the birds very clearly
Does anybody feel intimidated--by the very idea of being quizzed about poetry? In Indianapolis, more than 60 percent of seniors have failed the state exit exam. Is it because they can't read? Or is it because they are being tested on the wrong things?
by Angela Townsend and Jennifer Gonzalez
Plain Dealer Reporters
A failing score on the Ohio Graduation Test has kept 43 percent of Cleveland high school seniors from earning a high school diploma this month. But they're hardly alone.
In Indianapolis, for example, more than 60 percent of seniors have failed the state exit exam.
Passage rates for Cleveland and other cities are likely to rise over time. That's what happened after the old ninth-grade proficiency test -- predecessor to today's more rigorous graduation test -- was first used as an exit exam for the Class of 1994.
But that's little consolation to those who just finished their high school careers with no diploma to show for it.
Nationwide, 22 states in the country have exit exams, which must be passed to earn a high school diploma. Maryland, Oklahoma and Washington state are phasing in an exam.
Comparing exit exams across state lines is virtually impossible, because the tests aren't uniform. California's test covers only math and language arts, for example, and doesn't have a science section -- the part that has spelled doom for so many Ohio students.
But Ohio students who have had challenges with science are not alone.
To date, only one-third of next year's seniors in Washington state have passed the science portion of the exam they need in order to graduate.
Eight states have decided not to have a science section on their exit exam.
A report released last August by the Center on Education Policy showed that by 2012, seven out of every 10 public high school students in the United States will have to take an exit exam to graduate. That number includes 78 percent of the country's African-American students and 84 percent of Latino students.
Other findings from the report:
Only 14 states, including Ohio, provide money for tutoring or related support programs to help students pass.
The percentage of students passing exit exams on the first try ranges on average from 70 percent to 90 percent. The passage rates are significantly lower for minority and low-income students, students still learning English and students with disabilities.
Jack Jennings, president of the center, points to Massachusetts as a state that has figured out the right way to administer its exit exam.
"If you increase the rigor in the beginning years and test along the way, you tend to have a high passage rate," he said.
In the Cleveland district, students who needed extra help for the graduation test could participate in after-school tutoring and a monthlong Saturday program.
But in the Worcester, Mass., school district, preparation sessions are mandatory for students who have previously failed a portion of the state's MCAS test.
Chris Pope is an MCAS specialist at North High School in Worcester, which has 1,200 students.
"As the years have gone by, these kids come into high school a lot more familiar with the test, if nothing else," Pope said. "I think the main thing is that kids understand more that they have to pass the test."
Over the years, teachers have adjusted their course work to include more content on the test, instead of just "teaching to the test," Pope added.
But one of the problems that Pope sees in Massachusetts - and which the Center for Education Policy sees nationwide - is the drop-off of monetary support for remediation.
"After the very first year, there was lots of money," Pope said. "But that almost immediately dwindled to virtually nothing. The assistance we get from state is pretty minimal."
California is one state that has taken the opposite tack, increasing spending on remediation from $20 million to $57 million in a year's time.
Seniors enrolled in Oakland schools who do not pass the California exit exam this spring can enroll in a free summer program at the local community college. At the same time that they're studying for the exit exam, which will be given in late July, they can also enroll in a college class for credit.
"We hope that we can get them one foot in the door toward college," said district spokesman Alex Katz.
During the school year, some schools have entire classes dedicated to preparing for the exam. Others have classes after school.
"In some schools, if you get a detention, you have to study for the exam," Katz said.
— Angela Townsend and Jennifer Gonzalez
Cleveland Plain Dealer
2007-06-08
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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