Cheating allowed and ENCOURAGED?!

[fuzziebutt]

So I'm at a dollar store today, and she asks me if I wanna donate my change to a learn to read program. "Nope", I told her, "if they pay attention in school like I did, they can learn to read like I did". It's the parent's fault, too. If my kids were having trouble in any subject, then either I would sit them down and go over it until they learned it, or if it was any kind of math, I'd get a tutor. I wasn't made of money, raised 2 boys by myself on a waitress' pay. But both of my boys can read, write and do math, or anything they need to. And they graduated from high school.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
I too went to school in the 60's, and we had standardized tests every year. No big deal. Actually, it kind of was, because you had a couple of rather shorter days to take tests, and short days or days off were pretty uncommon. We never had "in service" days off, never had weekly half days, never had conference days off (not even sure f they had parent/teacher conferences as a routine thing). Holidays that were school days off were Fair Day in October, Thanksgiving and the day after in November, Christmas through New Years in December (usually a few days before Christmas to the first week day after New Years Day), Monday after Easter and Memorial Day (if school was not already out). We started the day after Labor Day.

All the other holidays: Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Washington and Lincoln's Birthdays and any others I am not recalling at the moment were celebrated by being in school and studying them--usually with some sort of assembly on that theme.

 

[Q9]

Quote:
I confess to thinking they're kind of fun, but that may because they're pathetically easy and I like filling in the little bubbles. It's sad that they're the "standard". You're right; they really don't cover very many subjects.

Oh I definitely found them easy too. Thanks to the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP), I was awarded 4K in college scholarships to use in the state. However, that $ quickly evaporated as part of budget cuts before I could take advantage

Ludicrously easy. Math is the only subject that actually makes me stop and think.

Even then, it's mostly because my brain just plain dislikes numbers.

What kills me is that the system is essentially trying to assign you a numerical value as a human being. That's the truly disturbing part.

 

[Imp]

When I was in college, in one class we were allowed/encouraged to falsify one research paper. Falsify data, quotes, references, just everything we could get away with. We would be downgraded if we got caught though. I choose to write that paper on Sidewalk Santas, and how most were con artists stealing money during the holidays. The disturbing part was that I didn't have to fake much. It is surprisingly true how many are crooks.( I think it was 80%) As I recall I did not get caught on anything. Good grade on that paper.

Imp

btw-It was supposed to treach us to be skeptical of things in print. Course the internet came along and beat that lesson into most everyone.

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

Standardized tests have been as good or bad as the school for years. I had to take the CATs, always got a 99 in math, highest English was 12 when I filed in a pattern based on math. That's a clear LD, never noticed till college, and I'd learned to cope

 

[thekid]

Quote:
the learn to read is most likley for the kids in africa, the countries with lesser schools, etc.

 

[Spookwriter]

Why you cheat, the one you're cheating is yourself.

Cheat on the test, that paper, your job...even your marriage.
Go right ahead.

You lose something you can't get back.

 

[Mattemma]

I guess I am weird because I always liked the kids taking the IOWA tests.I gave them when they were homeschooled,and they took/take them with the eschools/private schools.I LIKE seeing how they score.What I don't like is the test prepping.I want my kids to take the tests with NO practicing or preparing before hand.I want to see what they REALLY know.


Cheating is so lame.What is the point? Just give them an A or pass them. I would hate to think a doctor,lawyer, or nurse I hired cheated through school to get their positions.

 

[Dar]

this no child left behind policy chaps my backside!

my son is 14 and starting grade 9 in the fall... his reading is at about a grade 4-5 level...
spelling is about a grade 2 level
math is about a grade 4 level

I could go on and on...

when he was younger we used to sit down night after night and go through things... simple drills 15 minutes max... things that should click off the top of your head... so for grade one.. words like cat hat mat rat spat.. we used to pick a pattern a night..
same with math 1+ ? = the next night was 2+ ?= next night was 3+?=.. and so on

WE WERE TOLD TO STOP we are confusing him even further and interfering with the schools new fan dangled way of teaching...

do you know how my son spells boat?... bote.. do you know how he spells broom ... brom

it is actually written in his student record that he has a learning disability because the parents interfered and was confusing him even further. We found out that tid bit when someone I went to school with was his teacher for 1/2 a year and went through his record and found that note.

Our school board I think anyway and a few of my teacher friends agree... I think the schools are creating learning difficulties within a few children in order to gain more funding from the federal government. .. the way our education system works... is a typical child will generate $10.00 per day that s/he is in class (pulling numbers outta my butt cant remember exact figures and it changes so often with each new government thats elected) .. a learning disabled child will generate $20.00 per day s/he is in class... so the more identified children we have the higher our school budget will be. meanwhile there is no more time given to that child in class UNLESS they fall really behind then they will get 20 minutes per day with a resource teacher.

we now spend over $300 a month on a tutor and because his way of learning was way off base for such a long time we are hoping by grade 12 he will be caught up.

this no child left behind policy id dreadful for the kids... what happens when all through school they were pushed ahead with accommodation and then all of a sudden they are in the real world.. do you really think an employer will say.. OH wait I will hire a scribe for you to fill out the paperwork cause you had one in school?... NOPE.. oh wait i will hire someone to read the instructions to you cause you had things dictated to you in school.. NOPE

ok off my soap box

 

[teach1rusl]

The only thing about this that surprises me is that this district was so blatant about it. The entire system of "No Child Left Behind" practically begs for schools to cheat.

When a principal tells you "I expect zero novices (novice is the lowest test range...then apprentice, proficient, distinguished)," and the child testing has an IQ of 72, or you watch a very able child who just doesn't care mark C for every answer (completing a 40 minute test in under 10 minutes), it's hard NOT to want to cheat. Or you have a child who reads on a 2nd grade level, but the test/words are written on a 4th grade level (because around here, even if a child needs another year to catch up on their skills, it's up to the parents as to whether they'll get that extra year or not, and most parents DON'T want it...and so the child falls further and further behind). On the test, when a child looks at you and says "Mrs. R - what does this say?" or "I don't know what this is asking?" and you're not even allowed to tell them what it says or what it's asking, it BITES!! The only way you're "supposed" to respond is "Just do your best, you can do it!" How disheartening to a teacher to see such frustration (and sometimes defeat) on a child's face

The fact of the matter is, all children are different, and have different strengths - those stupid tests only measure one small area of intelligence - book learning. Kids who might be whizzes at math, but struggle in reading, will generally score very low on the math portion simply because almost all of the math problems are written in question/scenario form. And I'm not saying that's all bad, but it doesn't measure a child's math ability alone well - maybe if the question was given orally... Not all kids will go to college. Not all kids will /can be neuro surgeons or aeronautics engineers. We need bankers, and firemen, and teachers, and lawyers (yes, even lawyers), and janitors, and fast food workers, and cashiers, and construction workers, and auto mechancs, and police officers, and accountants...a whole range of workers.

Can you tell I hate those danged "we're all the same" tests???? It was a big part of why I left full-time teaching. All the fun projects that were more student centered and student driven flew out the window to give room for the almighty test prep. Besides my own assessments to see how well students had learned the concepts I'd taught, we were required to give weekly "practice tests" for the "real" test. My class would groan every time...well, most of them. Yes, there were always a few (the ones whom learning came very easily to) who didn't seem to mind. These had to be scored as a team, and scores tracked and charted. And once a month our district would require us to administer a district-wide test that was formatted similarly to the BIG test. Scores were posted in the "War Room," a staff meeting room, on large chart paper. And the principal always wanted to know how we planned on getting the novices up to proficient. The whole thing brings up bad memories. School should be about learning to love (or at least appreciate) learning, rather than dread, for students AND teachers.

Sorry about my rambling OP - the article just struck a nerve.