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Outrages

  

9486 in the collection  

    In Arizona, Five Paragraphs or Bust

    A fifth-grade teacher punished four pupils last week because they didn't write a long-enough essay on their AIMS tests, the father of one of the students said.

    Joseph Estrada, 11, and three of his Cheyenne Elementary School classmates weren't allowed to watch a movie or play outside late last week after they turned in short essays on the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards test, Daniel Estrada said.

    He said that, as far as he knows, Joseph wasn't being disruptive. According to a letter Joseph's teacher sent to Estrada, the boy handed in a two-paragraph essay, rather than a five-paragraph essay, because he couldn't think of anything else to write. The letter said he was punished because he didn't follow directions.

    Results from the high-stakes test determine schools' labels, which in turn can affect everything from a school's funding to curriculum. Cheyenne Elementary has the second-highest label: "improving."

    Both Cheyenne Principal Eric Gundrum and district spokesman Jim Cummings said they could not comment on the incident. But Cummings said that, as a result of the complaint, officials plan to talk to Peoria Unified School District employees about the proper way to administer standardized tests.

    Cummings said educators have to follow different rules when they are giving tests such as AIMS than when they are giving their own exams. For example, he said, if pupils don't perform at their potential on a teacher's test, the teacher has several options, including punishing the pupils.

    "But if you're dealing with a state exam, what they hand in is what they hand in," Cummings said.

    Estrada said he is satisfied with the way Gundrum handled the situation and is especially glad that teachers will receive further training. But he is upset that the punishment happened at all.

    "You still took my son's dignity and respect away for a day and made him think he did something wrong," Estrada said. "Was the answer he gave wrong or improper or incorrect? Well, we don't know that."

    — Katy Scott
    Too-short essay gets boy in trouble
    Arizona Republic
    April 8, 2003
    http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0508punished08.html

    INDEX OF OUTRAGES

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