Quest Blogger's blog

Spring symbolizes state testing time for most school districts. With many states in the process of or preparing to administer their states standardized test, this week’s article is going to share with you some of the differences between the states. Every state in the union has retained the right to determine their own state standards and road map for making AYP. With this being said, no two states standardized testing regulations are the same.

Did you know…

In Hawaii students must be given a maximum of three attempts at each assessment; reading, math and science, then the highest score is reported for AYP. In all other states the students only get one shot at it!

Not every standardized test is timed. In Texas students have all the time they need to take the test. If a school in Texas chooses to test beyond the regular school hours then dinner is served to the students.

Not every state includes writing in their standardized testing.

Some standardized tests are multiple-choice only. Others include short answer or constructed response, which require a higher level of thinking such as; making comparisons, contrasts, causes and effects, making predictions, summarizing, drawing conclusions, etc.

Many students are allowed to use such tools as calculators, manipulatives, formula sheets and scratch paper on standardized tests while others are not.

Some states require 30 or 40 students to make up a subgroup while states like Maryland (5), Kentucky and Louisiana (10) and California require 50 students.

15 states now have a growth model with 2 more states utilizing a form of a growth model. A growth model measures individual growth of students and is included in the accountability system along with proficiency (status) and safe harbor (improvement). Putting it simply, growth models help schools make AYP.

For more information about your state's rules and regulations email tkitchen@questeducationsystems.com or go to www.questeducationsystems.com and check out a workshop coming near you.

With the growing concern of bullying and its effect on students, schools need to be committed to stopping bullying behavior. Having a “zero” tolerance rule is not enough. Research has proven schools that teach students to recognize and intervene in bullying have the greatest impact on stopping incidents of bullying and harassment at school.

President Obama's call to measure and reward effective teaching has created a Governors' movement across our nation. Teacher tenure has come under fire nation wide due to the policy making it difficult, costly, and near impossible to fire underperforming teachers. States such as, Idaho, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, and Wisconsin have called for the elimination or restructuring of the tenure system. Teachers in both Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD have recently signed contract agreements with local school districts loosening tenure provisions in favor of merit pay options.

Have the people of Wisconsin spoken? In the November elections the people replaced their senator Russ Feingold with Ron Johnson and voted in Scott Walker for governor. Then they elected Republicans to run both the house and senate. Today, Govenor Scott Walker and the people of Wisconsin are facing a budget deficit of $3.6 billion. And in the midst of all this deficit this Wisconsin Teacher's Union decided to go on strike.

Last week I made an attempt to explain Government Pension Offset (GPO) in the hopes of helping teachers understand their retirement benefits. The topic of today is the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP); Part two of retirement benefits that also affects a teacher's retirement benefits. 

Social Security benefits are intended to replace only a percentage of a worker's pre-retirement earnings. The way Social Security benefit amounts are figured,  lower-paid workers get a higher return than highly paid workers. For example, lower-paid workers could get a Social Security benefit that equals about 55 percent of the pre-retirement earnings. The average replacement rate for highly paid workers is about 25 percent.

Every teacher needs to understand what their benefits are going to be before they retire. Most of us have heard of Social Security and want to believe we are going to receive our fair share of benefits when the time arises. But what most don’t understand is that the benefits teachers receive are usually less than what they expected. Today I am going to try to help make sense of how teacher contributions and Social Security work. This will be Part 1: Government Pension Offset. Then next week I will discuss Part 2: Windfall Elimination Provision.

As long as most of us can remember local school boards and states controlled what was being taught in their schools. Today, with the rise in mobility of families and the pressure of states being held accountable for their student’s educational achievements many of our country’s educational leaders are leaning towards “same” educational standards for all children. Holding the philosophy that no matter where a child attends school he/she should be held to the same high standards as children in other states. Today a child may be raised in one state, yet attend college in another or a family may move several times throughout a child’s life.

Making AYP and Standardized testing are hot topics, but not necessarily a favorite topic among teachers and administrators.

On January 8, 2002 President George W. Bush signed the Elementary Secondary Education Act: No Child Left Behind, into law. Since then schools across our nation have been scrambling to understand and implement the law which states that ALL students will score at proficient or above by 2014. NCLB requires states to create an accountability system; test, graduation rates, attendance and other indicators. Schools have to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals, as set by each state, by raising levels of achievement for subgroups of students such as minorities, special education, and those from low-income families, to a state-determined level. Every student must reach proficiency levels, as determined by the state in which they live, by 2013-2014 school year.

If there is one thing those in the education profession know well, it would have to be change. Change is something that happens annually, if not more, and educators learn to roll with the tides. We recognize that for anyone to be great at something one must reflect upon their progress, congratulate themselves on what is going well and be willing to improve on their areas of weakness.  It is no secret that today we are no longer the best educated nation in the world. President Obama wrote in his Letter From the President, "A generation ago, we led all nations in college completion, but today, 10 countries have passed us." He continues, " And the countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow." Therefore, something needs to change!

So what will this change be?