Fred Smith Requests Your Help

For those of you who are not aware, Fred Smith has been working with us for years to expose the underbelly of high stakes testing.

Hi, Norm:

I put together a teacher survey about the ELA and Math testing program and advertised it in NY's union papers. One ad came out on April 5th in the UFT paper. It will appear again in both the NYSUT and UFT papers on the 19th. The classified ad was placed in the MISCELLANEOUS category.

Can you share this with your readers?

Fred Smith

As a retired NYC BOE test researcher, I stand ready to receive responses from the field, analyze and report on them. I welcome your feedback and support. I'd like to see the survey get into wide circulation by making teachers aware of it and inviting their participation.

The New York State ELA and Math tests are being given over the next two weeks. Your feedback about the testing program is important. Here is the link to a survey, intended for teachers in grades 3 to 8, asking how you see the program. (For your information, the survey is also being advertised in the UFT and NYSUT newspapers.) It should take 5 minutes to complete--but a little more time if you want to provide comments. Please invite your colleagues to respond as well. Thank you.

Please take a look at the survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/TeachersSay

Thank you.

Also from Fred to the Change the Stakes Listserve - see blog here: http://changethestakes.wordpress.com/

Folks, I'm calling on the teachers in this group to do me a favor.

On Tuesday, when the ELA is given (Book 1), please note the total number of items there are in the test booklet and how many reading passages there are. There is nothing wrong in verifying this information.

I'd like that basic information for each grade level (from grade 3 to grade 8).  I think our group has that range covered.

Note: Book 1 is the only part of the ELA that will contain embedded field test items. The facts I'm requesting will help me figure out how many of the multiple-choice items that appear on the test will actually count in the scoring.

Thank you.