Pencader makes mensurable DCAS gains

Posted on July 19, 2012 by kilroysdelaware

See Reading (good improvement)

See Math (good improvement)

See Science (first year measured, sucks)

Complete Pencader Data

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20 Responses

  1. John Young, on July 19, 2012 at 1:23 pm said:

    Are you buying into the fallacy of test score improvement meaning a school is well run?

    Reply
    • kilroysdelaware, on July 19, 2012 at 1:55 pm said:

      See new post! Pencader has some great teachers putting student first and now with a fracture leadership base it’s questionable how much longer those great teachers have a job

  2. John Young, on July 19, 2012 at 2:00 pm said:

    of course they do, all schools do. But are test scores a valid measure of knowledge or test taking skills? It’s a serious question

    Reply
    • kilroysdelaware, on July 19, 2012 at 2:05 pm said:

      Is it possible to teach to the test re: DCAS? Can teacher show student which questions they go wrong to better prepare them for next round of tests?

    • Jodi, on July 19, 2012 at 2:39 pm said:

      I think they can see scores based on content area/skill set to identify those areas a student may be weaker in. That’s my understanding at least. Interested in learning more details about this too…

    • John Young, on July 19, 2012 at 4:33 pm said:

      Do people know these tests are proctored by their kids’ teacher? Sometimes in their own classroom? More importantly, do people know that teacher evaluation is tied directly to student scores?

    • susan, on July 19, 2012 at 7:51 pm said:

      Very good point, John. It leaves the door wide open for them to cheat like crazy so they can keep their jobs. Pencader ooozes cheaters and liars. You do the math.

    • Pencadermom, on July 19, 2012 at 8:56 pm said:

      Are you implying the teachers at Pencader are feeding the kids answers on the tests? If not, could you rephrase your comment.

    • susan, on July 19, 2012 at 9:24 pm said:

      Yes, I was a bit strong. I should have made two paragraphs instead of one. Sorry about that.

    • Pencadermom, on July 19, 2012 at 9:53 pm said:

      What? I keep rereading your paragraph and not sure what you mean by ‘two paragraphs’? Unless this is Kilroys big ‘secret’, but I would hope not as he just praised Pencaders teachers today, then those are some serious accusations, by both you and John. Not only accusations about teachers, but about students as well.

    • kilroysdelaware, on July 19, 2012 at 10:41 pm said:

      Nothing wrong with praising Pencader teachers! They are victims too!
      Not the big secret! That news is coming sunrise Sunday !

    • Pencadermom, on July 19, 2012 at 11:18 pm said:

      “Nothing wrong with praising Pencader teachers! They are victims too!”- completely agree. That is why I saw red when I read some of the above comments.

    • John Young, on July 19, 2012 at 11:21 pm said:

      I levied no accusations whatsoever. I pointed out the system by which the test is administered and you inferred that I implied that cheating occurred. The test administration environment is weak. It could breed problems.

    • Gus, on July 19, 2012 at 9:19 pm said:

      I am floored by your criticism of the teachers at Pencader and you have no basis for these types of comments. The tests are proctored by two teachers and are all taken on laptops in classrooms. Kids are monitored extensively and it is taken very seriously. This is a profession I work very hard at and am insulted by your blanket statements about my chosen career. May I ask where you work and if I can come insult you a bit? Thanks

    • Susan Tyda, on July 20, 2012 at 5:06 am said:

      Sorry, Gus.

      Please put your big boy pants on. It wasn’t intentional. I respect teachers a great deal.

      I’m just saying that I don’t trust anything out of this particular school.

  3. Harrie Ellen Minnehan, on July 19, 2012 at 4:55 pm said:

    What is key to look for in the DCAS data (and I’m not sure I’m finding it yet) is student growth. Growth is the name of the game, it’s why DSTP was scrapped and DCAS was bought….look at the test data from the Fall testing round and then measure the spring round against it. How much growth did kids show? Did whole classes of kids show? Did schools show? Lower grades will show more growth than the high schools but they too should show improvement/growth in the areas tested. That is what the teachers’ evaluations will be linked with, in Component V of the DPAS II. You don’t want to measure the scores of this year against last year because that’s two different cohorts of kids and that was all that we could do with DSTP. DSTP wasn’t a growth model measure.

    John points out potential issues, of course. By carefully tracking the progress of kids in particular schools, classes, etc. it should be possible to factor in/out certain issues. Also because of immediate feedback with DCAS teachers can see areas that need re-teaching.

    Because DCAS is a computer based test there are a lot of software “study test guides” available for teachers and students. The impact of this on test results isn’t known yet, but common sense says it has to be a factor. Some of this “test practice” is available at home for kids, and that tells you that there can be impact for different socio-economic subgroups and test performance. Also, like so many things we teach kids, the more they “practice” the more accomplished they become at the activity. Test taking is such an activiity. Many, many questions, and not so many answers yet. But lots of fun ahead for the statisticians!

    Reply
  4. NCS Dad, on July 19, 2012 at 8:03 pm said:

    Why what are you implying John?
    Cheating should be detectable using statistical analysis. Remember the data evaluation the AJC did two years ago? They indicated some uncertainty about some DE scores ( under the old system – I think)
    Will anyone bother to look?

    Reply
    • susan, on July 19, 2012 at 8:17 pm said:

      Cheating isn’t always detectable. If you believe that, I am Queen Elizabeth.

    • John Young, on July 19, 2012 at 11:23 pm said:

      I am implying nothing. I am saying the administration of DCAS is a bad process

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