AP scores are out - so far, I've only heard from two students... they did pretty well and I'm fairly happy. For those who didn't call/email me, I'm going to have to wait until this fall when the mail is finally opened by the counselors. I'm hoping that there will be some detailed information so I can see what was missed or didn't work and what did.
WASL scores are probably in that pile too, not that it will do any good. The only report that teachers get are the generalized "85% passed." Completely worthless. Worthless, because there is no additional information describing how or why they passed and how or why others did not. Did they barely pass? Pass with high scores? Got a great score on expository writing, but not so much with the persuasion? Are there any trends at all? How did they get from 55% passing in 7th grade to 85% in 10th? Suddenly started caring? Fantastic remedial programs? Who knows? I can tell you it's not the teachers!
This, of course, leads to my next question. If the WASL is supposed to tell everyone how the schools are doing in this whole education process, why isn't there any information that would actually help to improve that process? Does anyone get the information? I know it exists somewhere... I used to get reports when working in another school district. Even the reports given to students are so dumbed down that they're pretty worthless too. ("very good on mathematical calcuations, but not very good at spacial abilities"; as if parents and students even know what the heck that is talking about!)
Does anyone else still get actal statistical information? Or is just us?
WASL scores are probably in that pile too, not that it will do any good. The only report that teachers get are the generalized "85% passed." Completely worthless. Worthless, because there is no additional information describing how or why they passed and how or why others did not. Did they barely pass? Pass with high scores? Got a great score on expository writing, but not so much with the persuasion? Are there any trends at all? How did they get from 55% passing in 7th grade to 85% in 10th? Suddenly started caring? Fantastic remedial programs? Who knows? I can tell you it's not the teachers!
This, of course, leads to my next question. If the WASL is supposed to tell everyone how the schools are doing in this whole education process, why isn't there any information that would actually help to improve that process? Does anyone get the information? I know it exists somewhere... I used to get reports when working in another school district. Even the reports given to students are so dumbed down that they're pretty worthless too. ("very good on mathematical calcuations, but not very good at spacial abilities"; as if parents and students even know what the heck that is talking about!)
Does anyone else still get actal statistical information? Or is just us?
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