News from the Keaau HS

[unknownjulie]

Heard today that some classes that scored very high improvements on the HSA math test are now being "made" to retake the test by the powers that be. I am furious over this. The assumption is that "there was cheating" rather than "the kids actually improved by this much". It is the actual national test administers that are requiring that retake and it is because of the scrutiny now after what happened with the teachers in Georgia. Just thought I'd share...

[dmbwest]

IMO, the kids will only improve on test scores from experience ... And this will look even better for them. So whats the problem again?

[csgray]

Julie.
Only 10th graders take the HSA at the HS level, other new tests are being introduced at the HS level to measure "career and college readiness" but this was the first year pilot. There are 3 rounds of testing, one first semester and 2 second. At my school we are finishing up the 3rd round. At some schools taking the 3rd round is voluntary if you had a high enough score, while at others it is mandatory. Are you sure the kids are being forced to retest, or are they just taking the 3rd and final round of HSA for this year?

Carol

[dayna]

My daughter would scream bloody murder if they "made" her retake a test. I've heard nothing of this and my daughter is in the 10th grade (kinda) at Keaau High School.

And by the kinda comment, she's taking senior classes this year, extra and accelerated classes. Her first semester next year she'll be a Junior and the other semesters she'll be a senior (she's graduating a year early).

So I'm not 100% sure at this point what grade she's testing with. I do know she got to skip all the prep classes that 10th graders have to take for these tests, but I'm pretty sure I remember her taking the tests. They let her skip the math prep class because she's currently in AP Calc and they let her skip the English prep class because she took AP English last year.

And I have to agree with pog on this one. The more tests they take the better they'll do!



Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[csgray]

We do lose a tremendous amount of class time to the tests, and there is such a thing as test fatigue, so at some point you get diminishing returns by testing all the time, especially with adolescents who can decide to just pick B for every answer if they don't buy in to the tests.

Dayna, unless your daughter was promoted right past 10th grade, she took the reading, math and science HSAs (state requirement) plus now they are implementing the college and career readiness tests, I think in all grade levels for HS. I don't know if Keaau was a pilot school for those or not.

Carol

[dayna]

I just asked my daughter. She said they are required to take it three times but.... She's taken the English one three times, the Math only once and no science at all....

Since shes not a in sophomore math class they are not making her take anymore Math tests. Shes also not in a sophomore science (she's in AP biology and AP Calculus).

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[unknownjulie]

IT's a retake that was not scheduled originally due to the high level of improvement. That's all I know. It may only be for 2 of the math classes that I am familiar with. Somehow they got flagged, and it's definately a retake, but sorry I dont have more details. Kids were upset.

[csgray]

Wow, Julie.

Knowing HS students it could really go either way on their response to this. They could get so pissed off at being doubted that they were capable of getting those scores that they do even better, or they could decide to blow it off completely and really bomb. This test is all online, and different students get different questions based on how they do an earlier questions, so unless someone stands behind them and tells the student what to answer, it would be pretty hard to cheat. In Washington DC and Atlanta the teachers actually erased answers and corrected them.

Carol

[unknownjulie]

Yeah, I know. I felt absolutely terrible for the kids. I am just praying they score even higher on the retake! These Keaau kids are going to be the best testtakers in the entire nation after all this poking and prodding by Edison.

[dmbwest]

FYI, they not alone Julie ... REAL WORLD, life skills, test of character now ... duplicate or improve your best ...