CUNNINGHAM: COMMON FOR TESTS LIKE KIRIS TO NOT BE BOUND BY OWN CONTENT STANDARDS From: gkcunn01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu > Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 19:53:38 -0500 > To: arthurhu@halcyon.com > Subject: Re: Howard Gardner > At 03:52 AM 1/9/98 -0800, you wrote: > >Thanks, I still find it completey amazing that Gary Orfield gets > >printed in every paper in the country as saying that segregation > >causes inequality when his own research deliberately omits > >any study of how blacks do in excellent schools. I've sent this to > >him and gotten no response. Perhaps you can help spread the > >word. You appear to be the only other person in the country who > >is willing to say that these new tests are too hard, not too easy. > > > >BTW, I did some scanning around, the WA test doesn't even > >conform to its own benchmarks. The 4th grade test contains > >proportionality and least common multiples, which is their > >7th grade benchmarks, and on the web appear in > >5th to 9th grade curriculums.. Have you seen stuff > >like this where tests go way beyond any reasonable grade level > >expectations? > > Sure it quite common. In Kentucky, the KIRIS test is supposed to be based > directly on something called the Core Content for Assessment. A comparsion > of questions on the test with the Core Content shows few correspondences. > > There are of course two types of standards: content standards and > performance standards. Most states are now concentrating on the > performance standards. What we are talkin about here is fidelity with the > content standards. There is at present no accepted methodology for doing this. > > From: gkcunn01@ulkyvm.louisville.edu Date sent: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 00:38:01 -0500 To: arthurhu@halcyon.com Subject: Re: Howard Gardner At 05:51 AM 1/12/98 -0800, you wrote: >Where do you get the sample KIRIS questions? > >Why is it that only you and I are the only people who bother to >check the content of a test against content standards and >real-world curricululm standards? By the looks of failure rates, >it looks like all of the tests must be similar, how so many >people be so completely fooled when administrators say >all you have to do is study the content standards??? Geez. > With the KIRIS tests there are two classifications of items: common items and matrix items. Most of the items, five of seven are coommon and they are released each year and anyone can have access to them, but few bother. The thing that drives me nuts is that so many people, politicians, teachers, parents, journalists discuss KIRIS without having ever examined the items on the test. This has allowed the state to run a scam that is occurring all over the country. They claim that what they are doing is performance assessment. The KIRIS test, by law had to be primarily performance based by 1996. This justifies the enormous expense and the problems encountered (it is a new technology of testing). Actually the items are just rather ordinary essay questions. Here is a sample of some of the items from the eleventh grade test. 1. Some objects sink in water, some float, and others remain suspended. Explain in detail how each occurs. Use an example of each to support your explanation. 2. Historically, the North has been an industrial, urban area and the South has been a rural, agricultural area. In the latter part of the 20th century, however, the characteristics of both regions have been changing quickly. Explain the reasons for these changes. 3. Explain how the United States assumed the role of "world power." Describe the role of the United States in the world today, providing relevant examples to support your answer. 4. years of post-secondary education 1 2 25 3 4 6 6.5 7.5 entry level salary (in thousands of dollars) 17 19 24 20 27 35 40 45 a. Make a scatter plot to represent the data in the chart above. b. Draw your best approximation of the line of best fit. c. Write an algebraic equation for your line of best fit in part b. d. Could the line of best fit lead to any unreasonable conclusions about he relationship between years of education and salaries? Justify your answer. In each subject matter area, reading, math, social studies, science they need about 30 such questions for the matrix sampling and about 24 more for arts and humanities and for practical living and vocational information. A total of 170 essay questions a year. For this the state was paying Advanced Systems $8 million a year. total cost of assessment $120 to 257 million per year. You don't know any one that would write 170 questions such as the above for $8 million do you. That's about $47,000 per question. Not a bad business to be in. An audit was just completed to determine how the state's money was spent. The conclusion was that they couldn't figure out how the money was spent because there was inadequate documentation. Our ever, department of education friendly press, said that this was proof that there was no wrong doing. Well the audit couldn't find any evidence of money being mispent.