I will tell you the truth. The benchmarks, what subject matter is important to test (in other words, the test questions) are decided by a bunch of people sitting around a desk somewhere-- some of whom never even taught-- As for grade level, I believe that's done statistically. That is, large numbers of kids are tested. The results are normed. Those normed results are put on a scale. Loosely put, what most kids can do at a certain grade becomes the norm. However, as I said at the beginning, WHAT kids need to know is purely arbitrary. It is the opinion of the people who happen to be making up the test questions.
What's more, as soon as test scores improve and too many kids start doing too well--- the tests are renormed to ensure that there is a sufficient number of kids who fail. If every kid in the country because of brilliant teaching on our part made incredible strides on those tests, they'd just renorm and make sure enough of them and of course we as teachers are failures. That's a fact. The fact that some kids must be left behind is built right into the system. On Friday, May 25, 2007, at 07:22 AM, Renee wrote: > > On May 25, 2007, at 4:23 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> >> In a message dated 5/23/2007 10:27:39 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >> >> Who decides what "on grade level" actually means? >> What is the measurement that determines whether or not a child is "on >> grade level"? >> >> >> There are benchmarks for each grade level. These are used as >> measures. >> >> Laura > > > I return to my original question. Who decides on these benchmarks? How > are they created? > > Renee > > > "Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It > is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a > worthy purpose." > ~Helen Keller > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
