Just because standards have been developed, does not mean they were developmentally appropriate. Several years ago I participated in a "bulletin board" that covered education topics. A middle school social studies teacher had been on the most recent (at that time) K-12 Social Standards committee for the state of CA. He reported to us that the committee began by asking the college level instructors and professors who were on the committee what knowledge they hoped incoming college freshman would bring with them. Once the committee articulated what graduating seniors should be able to know and do in their discipline, they built standards down from there. The project endeavored to plug skills into the K-12 standards, but was not concerned with what may or may not be developmentally appropriate for the age and grade level. It was just creating standards to fulfill the wishlist of college professors.
Moreover, if college readiness is the standard, shouldn't the goal be that all students attend college? Or is that the goal? Is is possible that post-secondary readiness is not the same standard as college readiness? I ran testing in a large school district as an assessment director for a decade. As a society, as educational assessors, we are still struggling to establish what knowledge and skills students need for post-secondary success because we continue to flounder in our ability to teach the skills incoming adults need for "adulting." Teaching for it is hard. Testing for it is hard. It is easier to test to see if they will need college level remediation in math and reading, which is the real underscore for our assessment standards today. It is even easier to judge the vast complexity of the lives and outcomes of millions of humans through the lens of a scale score on a couple of tests. Ah. To be able to judge readiness for adulthood with a single number - an assessment director's dream. And, the greatest disservice to education as well.
I helped establish, and collect data on, the vast menu of options for graduation readiness in Colorado. Lowering a score for the SAT to meet graduation readiness is not lowering standards. Judging an entire education system with a scale score is.
I helped establish, and collect data on, the vast menu of options for graduation readiness in Colorado. Lowering a score for the SAT to meet graduation readiness is not lowering standards. Judging an entire education system with a scale score is.
Just because standards have been developed, does not mean they were developmentally appropriate. Several years ago I participated in a "bulletin board" that covered education topics. A middle school social studies teacher had been on the most recent (at that time) K-12 Social Standards committee for the state of CA. He reported to us that the committee began by asking the college level instructors and professors who were on the committee what knowledge they hoped incoming college freshman would bring with them. Once the committee articulated what graduating seniors should be able to know and do in their discipline, they built standards down from there. The project endeavored to plug skills into the K-12 standards, but was not concerned with what may or may not be developmentally appropriate for the age and grade level. It was just creating standards to fulfill the wishlist of college professors.
Moreover, if college readiness is the standard, shouldn't the goal be that all students attend college? Or is that the goal? Is is possible that post-secondary readiness is not the same standard as college readiness? I ran testing in a large school district as an assessment director for a decade. As a society, as educational assessors, we are still struggling to establish what knowledge and skills students need for post-secondary success because we continue to flounder in our ability to teach the skills incoming adults need for "adulting." Teaching for it is hard. Testing for it is hard. It is easier to test to see if they will need college level remediation in math and reading, which is the real underscore for our assessment standards today. It is even easier to judge the vast complexity of the lives and outcomes of millions of humans through the lens of a scale score on a couple of tests. Ah. To be able to judge readiness for adulthood with a single number - an assessment director's dream. And, the greatest disservice to education as well.
Alabama should be added to your list, though they're doing a strange mix of both lowering at 3rd grade and raising at 4th grade. See this article: https://www.al.com/educationlab/2024/06/shifting-terms-cut-scores-complicate-alabama-3rd-grade-reading-efforts.html
I helped establish, and collect data on, the vast menu of options for graduation readiness in Colorado. Lowering a score for the SAT to meet graduation readiness is not lowering standards. Judging an entire education system with a scale score is.
I helped establish, and collect data on, the vast menu of options for graduation readiness in Colorado. Lowering a score for the SAT to meet graduation readiness is not lowering standards. Judging an entire education system with a scale score is.