NCLB fear not realized

– Top and bottom students have not been shortchanged

– Teachers do the right thing regardless of testing credit

Education Week also has an article (listed as free access) concerning the new report from the Center on Education Policy I mentioned in another post today.

After looking at testing results from across the nation, EdWeek says the new report concludes, “that test scores for both "advanced" and "basic" students rose in nearly three-quarters of assessments studied across states and grade levels, a level of progress only slightly lower than that of students reaching proficiency.”

The “advanced” and “basic” categories are generally equivalent to the “novice” and “distinguished” scores from CATS and indicate levels of performance notably below and above the “proficient” level.

The message I get from this, and it is a really good one, is that teachers will try to do the right thing for their students even when they might not get credit for it on a specific assessment.

This is an important lesson. It shows that our “testing drives everything” fanatics in Kentucky are wrong. Just because something doesn’t get credit in an assessment program doesn’t automatically mean that good teachers will deemphasize or totally ignore it.

It’s a lesson we should keep in mind as Kentucky rebuilds its school assessment program.