IF HOOVER IS DOING ALL REFORMS RIGHT, WHY ARE SCORES SO LOW? \doc\web\98\09\hoover.txt In fact, Hoover's rates of post-secondary entry and retention are impressive. Educational Talent Search reports that of 275 low-income 1997 Hoover graduates, 85% are in post-secondary education. (SCANS, portfolios, preformance learning goals, etc) Date sent: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 21:18:32 -0600 (CST) To: "ClearingHouse" From: "eca@fastlane.net" Subject: [education-consumers] High School Reform Send reply to: "eca@fastlane.net" ===================================================================== This is the first post to come out of this brand new listserv. Note that one of their schools failed a standardized test. He deduces that the problem is the test, not the students. Therefore, the test must be changed. If you wish to subscribe to this list so that you can add your two cents, you'll find an e-mail link in the header. I think you leave the message blank, and the address tells it what to do. Jeanne -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- X-From_: bounce-hsreform-talk-78735@lists.bpic.org Tue Nov 3 16:11:32 1998 Date: Tue, 03 Nov 1998 18:10:46 +0000 Subject: What's a Good School, and How Do We Know It? To: "High School Reform Discussion Group" From: rriordan@bpic.org (Rob Riordan) MIME-Version: 1.0 List-Unsubscribe: List-Software: Lyris Server version 3.0 List-Subscribe: List-Owner: X-URL: Reply-To: "High School Reform Discussion Group" X-Message-Id: Sender: bounce-hsreform-talk-78735@lists.bpic.org Precedence: bulk Hello, Members of HSReform-Talk! My name is Rob Riordan, Director of the New Urban High School Project (NUHS) and facilitator for this month's discussion: "What's a Good School, and How Do We Know It?" Here's a start. Feel free to respond in any way that you choose, or to introduce another topic. Two years ago, under contract with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), NUHS staff visited sixteen cities looking for exemplary high schools that combine rigorous academics with adult-world involvement (e.g., internships, community service) for all students. Two broad findings: first, it is difficult to find more than a handful of schools that are using adult-world involvement as a lever for whole-school change. Second, there is no single model for the new urban high school. Nevertheless, it is possible to derive a set of design principles that drive the work of our NUHS sites: personalization, adult world immersion, contexts for reflection, intellectual mission, community partnership, and teacher as designer. How do we know good schools? The current trend in school districts across the land is to assess school performance by the most expedient route: test the students, rank the schools against each other, and attempt school improvement by means of public humiliation. In this context, it is no great shock that one of our sites, Hoover High School in San Diego, has appeared on the San Diego District's list of "low-performing" schools, based largely on the results of a single standardized test administration. At Hoover, 95% of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, and we know that standardized tests largely predict school demography. But the great irony is that Hoover's methods of assessment place it firmly in the camp of those who argue for school accountability. We have watched Hoover tenth-graders update their portfolios on the computer. We have listened as a Hoover junior presented a stunning digital portfolio referenced to Hoover's Learner Outcomes, which are adapted from the findings of the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). We have heard Hoover teachers discuss ways of integrating ESL students into their humanities core, both academically and socially. We have heard students describe in their own words Hoover's standards, its career strands, and its commitment to make tangible to them the world of adult work and adult learning. One-shot test scores and aggregate grades don't measure the kind of performance that Hoover students are capable of. Neither do they come close to measuring the impact of the school on its students. In fact, Hoover's rates of post-secondary entry and retention are impressive. Educational Talent Search reports that of 275 low-income 1997 Hoover graduates, 85% are in post-secondary education. And there are indications that these students are staying there at a rate far above the average. We don't need a test to tell us that our urban schools are struggling, or that a particular school has lots of students from low-income families. If we are serious about making improvements in our schools, then we must create assessments which give us a clear sense of student development and school development over time. These assessments must do justice to the complexity of schools and honor their achievement. There is no quick way to do this. Minimally, one would start with site-generated statements of objectives, working with teachers and families to develop an assessment which would answer a school's questions about itself. One would collect a broad range of longitudinal data: comparative test scores over time, college entry and retention data, student and parent surveys, student portfolios, teacher portfolios, even school portfolios. Hoover and other schools could help devise a comprehensive assessment that tells us in depth what we want to know: how our students are doing, and how we can help our schools build on their strengths so as to better serve students, families, and community. But this is to be a discussion, not a dissertation. Let's get started! Send in your ideas and experiences toward the creation of new, flexible, workable designs and assessments for the American high school. ------------------------------- HSReform-Talk is hosted by the New Urban High School, a joint project of the Big Picture Company and the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. 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