+OK 26821 octets Received: from smtp00.nwnexus.com (smtp00.nwnexus.com [192.135.191.25]) by mail3.halcyon.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id IAA16557 for ; Wed, 13 Oct 1999 08:47:35 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp4.erols.com (smtp4.erols.com [207.172.3.237]) by smtp00.nwnexus.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id IAA11748 for ; Wed, 13 Oct 1999 08:47:26 -0700 (PDT) Received: from oemcomputer (207-172-45-20.s20.tnt5.brd.va.dialup.rcn.com [207.172.45.20]) by smtp4.erols.com (8.8.8/smtp-v1) with SMTP id LAA21884 for ; Wed, 13 Oct 1999 11:47:19 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <009301bf1591$79301a20$0929accf@oemcomputer> Reply-To: "Gerald W. Bracey" From: "Gerald W. Bracey" To: "Arthur Hu" Subject: Fw: Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 11:41:52 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0090_01BF156F.F176A160" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Status: This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0090_01BF156F.F176A160 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Gerald W. Bracey=20 To: eddra@egroups.com ; Assessment Reform Network Mailing List ; = berliner@asu.edu ; Alex Molnar ; mathewsj@washpost.com ; Nishimura, Glen = ; Ethan Bronner ; rarchibold@nytimes.com ; jsteinberg@nytimes.com ; = ahortocollis@nytimes.com ; cstevens@usatoday.com ; thenry@usatoday.com ; = dkelly@usatoday.com ; gfrankel@washpoost.com ; wraspbery@washpost.com ; = cooperk@washpost.com=20 Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 1999 8:52 AM Subject: Fw:=20 Here's my response to Moloney. ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Gerald W. Bracey=20 To: bobewegen@aol.com=20 Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 1999 5:17 PM Bob, someone sent me a copy of William Moloney's 9/29/99 guest = commentary. I submit the following as a rebuttal. If you're not the = person to receive it, I'd appreciate your passing it along to the right = person. Gerald W. Bracey 1797 Dufflield Lane Alexandria, VA 22307-1174 ph-fx 703-317-1715 Gerald W. Bracey is an independent researcher, writer and policy analyst = living in Alexandria, Virginia. His "Bracey Report on the Condition of = Public Education" appears each October in the educational monthly Phi = Delta Kappan. His most recent book is Put to the Test: An Educator's = and Consumer's Guide to Standardized Testing. From 1986 to 1991 he was = Director of Research and Evaluation for the Cherry Creek School = District. =20 =20 Some say any publicity is good as long as they spell your name right. = When William J. Moloney attacked me in his "Guest Commentary" of = September 29, he misspelled my name so I am compelled to reply. =20 =20 Moloney gets started on the wrong foot by asserting "citizens wonder how = not once in 30 years have even half of American children scored at the = Proficient Level on any of these tests [of the National Assessment of = Educational Progress]." They shouldn't wonder. When the proficiency = levels were established by Chester E. Finn, Jr and fellow ideologues of = the National Assessment Governing Board (of which Moloney is now a = member), they were set too high in order to ensure that many children = would fail and to sustain the sense of crisis generated by that 1983 = piece of propaganda, "A Nation At Risk."=20 =20 Consider this: In the 1996 NAEP Mathematics assessment, only 18% of the = 4th graders attained the Proficient Level and only 2% reached Advanced. = Similar results occurred in the 1996 science assessment. Pretty bad, = huh? Yet these same fourth graders were above average in math when = compared to students from 25 other countries and they were third in the = world in science among these same 25 nations. =20 Little wonder that studies by the GAO, by the Center for Research in = Evaluation Student Standards and Testing (co-based at UCLA and = CU-Boulder), and by eminent psychometricians such as Robert Forsyth at = the University of Iowa and Lyle Jones at the University of North = Carolina declared the proficiency levels to be invalid and misleading. = This spring the National Research Council concluded that "the current = process for setting NAEP achievement levels is fundamentally = flawed....[It] should be replaced." The proficiency levels have been = the objects of scorn and derision from anyone who actually knows = something about testing. For Moloney to invoke them is to reveal his = terrible ignorance about them. I do not merely "assure audiences that all this talk of decline is = nonsense." I present data, something I searched for in vain in = Moloney's essay. I show them that there was a decline, but that it = ended around 1975. Achievement test scores fell from roughly 1965 to = roughly 1975, then reversed and by the mid to late 1980's (the year = varies a little by grade) had reached record highs. Scores remain at = these all-time high levels. =20 Anyone reading this remember the decade from 1965 to 1975? Many don't. = It started with the Watts riots in Los Angeles, riots that eventually = engulfed virtually every American city. The decade gave us Vietnam and = the anti-war protests, Watergate, SDS, Black Panthers, the Summer of = Love, Woodstock, Altamont, the Chicago Police Riot at the 1968 = Democratic National Convention and the deaths of college students at the = hands of the National Guard at Kent State in 1970, and the = assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Martin Luther King, Jr., and = Malcolm X. The recreational use of drugs expanded and television became = omnipresent. Little wonder people were paying less attention to = academic study than in prior times. Here is a sampling of the other data I show (it takes me an entire = morning to get through it all): 1. Scores on NAEP have been rising. If you look at the overall average = you see some improvement. If you look at the trends for blacks, whites = and Hispanics separately, you see even more improvement (until the last = assessments, Asians were too small a sample to be reported as a separate = group). Over time, minorities have become a and larger larger part of = the whole NAEP sample. Their scores are improving, but as these = low-but-improving scores become a larger proportion of the total, they = appear to attenuate the overall gains. The operative word is "appear." = 2. The proportion of students scoring above 650 on the SAT math section = grew by 75% from 1981 to 1995, reaching an all-time high around 1993. = Later years cannot be added because of the "recentering" of the SAT = scale, but there has been no tendency toward decline in the years the = new scale has been in existence. The gains on the SAT are not = attributable mostly to Asian-American students. If one removes these = students from the sample, there is still a large, 57%, gain for blacks, = whites, and Hispanics. 3. In the most recent international comparison of reading skills, = American students finished second among 29 nations. Moloney pooh-poohs = a conspiracy theory to bash schools, but the ideologues at the Bush = Department of Education, Lamar Alexander, Diane Ravitch and their ilk, = did try to hide this study. Even the industry newspaper, Education = Week, found out about it only by accident--a Europe-dwelling friend of = an Ed Week reporter sent him a copy from Germany. The Department had = held a large press conference five months earlier for a math-science = study where some American ranks were low. It touted that study. It was = entirely silent about the reading study and when USA Today played off = the Ed Week story with its own, its story carried a quote from a = Department official dismissing the study. 4. The number of students taking Advanced Placement tests has soared = from 98,000 in 1978 to almost 1,000,000 in 1998. =20 5. In the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), = American 4th graders as noted, were well above average. American 8th = graders were average in both subjects among the 41 nations tested at = that grade. American high school seniors appeared to finish low, but, = again, the operative word is "appeared." Only 5 of the 24 countries met = the study's criteria for producing valid data. That data should never = have been published. =20 There were cultural differences that produced huge differences in = scores. For instance, in most countries, you are either a worker or a = student, not both. But 55% of American kids in the study reported they = worked at least 21 hours a week at a paid job. The research on working = and school performance is quite clear: students who work up to 20 hours = a week do better than those who work more or those who don't work at = all. These results showed up in TIMSS, too: students who worked up to = 21 hours a week had an average score. The 28% of those students who = worked 21-35 hours a week scored considerably lower; the 275 who worked = more than 35 hours a week fell off the charts (readers interested in the = many flaws of the TIMSS final year study can find them documented in = articles I wrote for Phi Delta Kappan in May and September of 1998). None of these data are hard to find. They all reside in public = documents. In fact, the data are so available one must assume that = Moloney has deliberately refused to look at them. If he did he couldn't = maintain his schools-are-failing stance (When Moloney describes me as an = apologist for the status quo, all he really reveals is that he hasn't = actually read anything I've written). =20 Moloney is proud that Colorado will take its place alongside Virginia as = having the toughest accreditation standards in the nation. Are you = sure, Coloradans, you want to be in our company? If the students in = Fairfax County, Virginia had taken the TIMSS tests administered in 41 = nations, at most one country would have outscored them in math and none = would have in science. And yet, on the first round of these = accreditation tests, 93% of Fairfax' world class schools failed. People = said, oh, no one took this first administration seriously. But it sure = was the two-by-four that got the mule's attention. So how well did a = year of intense study and preparation pay off? On the second = administration, only 23 of the 202 schools in the system passed. That = outcome, I submit, is ridiculous. Yet it is what Mr. Moloney wants for = you. =20 Here's an example of a standard that brought Fairfax down: "The student = will analyze the regional development of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, = Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of physical, economic and = cultural characteristics and historical evolution from 1000 A. D. to the = present." This is a 10th grade history standard. It is not unique. There is much more to say, but this is an op-ed length article after all = (I don't have space to get into the lack of patriotism of companies = out-sourcing jobs to other nations, for instance). Maybe some = organization should bring me out to Colorado to debate Moloney. I dare = him to take me on. In any case, as long as such know-nothings as = Moloney hold positions of power, education will always be in crisis. =20 =20 ------=_NextPart_000_0090_01BF156F.F176A160 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Gerald W. = Bracey=20
To: eddra@egroups.com ; Assessment=20 Reform Network Mailing List ; berliner@asu.edu ; Alex Molnar ; mathewsj@washpost.com ; Nishimura,=20 Glen ; Ethan Bronner ; rarchibold@nytimes.com ; jsteinberg@nytimes.com ; ahortocollis@nytimes.com ; cstevens@usatoday.com ; thenry@usatoday.com ; dkelly@usatoday.com ; gfrankel@washpoost.com ; wraspbery@washpost.com ; cooperk@washpost.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 1999 8:52 AM
Subject: Fw:

Here's my response to Moloney.
 
 
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Gerald W. = Bracey=20
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 1999 5:17 PM

Bob, someone sent me a copy of William Moloney's = 9/29/99 guest=20 commentary.  I submit the following as a rebuttal.  If you're = not the=20 person to receive it, I'd appreciate your passing it along to the right=20 person.
 
 
Gerald W. Bracey
1797 Dufflield Lane
Alexandria, VA 22307-1174
ph-fx 703-317-1715
 
 
Gerald W. Bracey is an independent researcher, = writer and=20 policy analyst living in Alexandria, Virginia.  His "Bracey Report = on the=20 Condition of Public Education" appears each October in the educational = monthly=20 Phi Delta Kappan.  His most recent book is Put to = the=20 Test: An Educator's and Consumer's Guide to Standardized Testing. =20 From 1986 to 1991 he was Director of Research and Evaluation = for=20 the Cherry Creek School District.
 
 
Some say any publicity is good as long as they = spell your=20 name right.  When William J. Moloney attacked me in his "Guest = Commentary"=20 of September 29, he misspelled my name so I am compelled to=20 reply.  
 
Moloney gets started on the wrong foot by asserting = "citizens=20 wonder how not once in 30 years have even half of American = children=20 scored at the Proficient Level on any of these tests [of the = National=20 Assessment of Educational Progress]."  They shouldn't wonder.  = When=20 the proficiency levels were established by Chester E. Finn, Jr and=20 fellow ideologues of the National Assessment Governing Board (of=20 which Moloney is now a member), they were set too high in order to=20 ensure that many children would fail and to sustain the sense = of=20 crisis generated by that 1983 piece of propaganda, "A Nation At=20 Risk." 
 
Consider this:  In the 1996 NAEP = Mathematics=20 assessment, only 18% of the 4th graders attained the Proficient Level = and only=20 2% reached Advanced.  Similar results occurred in the 1996 science=20 assessment.  Pretty bad, huh?  Yet these same fourth graders = were=20 above average in math when compared to students from 25 other countries = and they=20 were third in the world in science among these same 25 = nations. 
 
Little wonder that studies by the GAO, by the Center = for=20 Research in Evaluation Student Standards and Testing (co-based at UCLA = and=20 CU-Boulder), and by eminent psychometricians such as Robert Forsyth at = the=20 University of Iowa and Lyle Jones at the University of North Carolina = declared=20 the proficiency levels to be invalid and misleading. This spring the = National=20 Research Council concluded that "the current process for setting NAEP=20 achievement levels is fundamentally flawed....[It] should be = replaced." =20 The proficiency levels have been the objects of scorn and derision from = anyone=20 who actually knows something about testing. For Moloney to invoke = them is=20 to reveal his terrible ignorance about them.
 
I do not merely "assure audiences that all this talk = of=20 decline is nonsense."  I present data, something I searched for in = vain in=20 Moloney's essay.  I show them that there was a decline, but that it = ended=20 around 1975.  Achievement test scores fell from roughly 1965 to = roughly=20 1975, then reversed and by the mid to late 1980's (the year varies a = little by=20 grade) had reached record highs.  Scores remain at=20 these all-time high levels.
 
Anyone reading this remember the decade from 1965 to = 1975?  Many don't.  It started with the Watts riots in Los = Angeles,=20 riots that eventually engulfed virtually every American city.  The = decade=20 gave us Vietnam and the anti-war protests, Watergate, SDS, Black = Panthers, the=20 Summer of Love, Woodstock, Altamont, the Chicago Police Riot at the = 1968=20 Democratic National Convention and the deaths of college students = at the=20 hands of the National Guard at Kent State in 1970, and the = assassinations of=20 Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.  = The=20 recreational use of drugs expanded and television = became omnipresent. =20 Little wonder people were paying less attention to academic study than = in prior=20 times.
 
Here is a sampling of the other data I show (it = takes me=20 an entire morning to get through it all):
 
1.  Scores on NAEP have been rising.  If = you look at=20 the overall average you see some improvement.  If you look at=20 the trends for blacks, whites and Hispanics  separately, = you see=20 even more improvement (until the last assessments, Asians were too small = a sample to be reported as a separate group).  Over time, = minorities have become a and larger larger part of the whole NAEP = sample. =20 Their scores are improving, but as these low-but-improving=20 scores become a larger proportion of the = total, they=20 appear to attenuate the overall gains.  The operative word is=20 "appear." 
 
2.  The proportion of students scoring above = 650 on the=20 SAT math section grew by 75% from 1981 to 1995, reaching an all-time = high around=20 1993.  Later years cannot be added because of the "recentering" of = the SAT=20 scale, but there has been no tendency toward decline in the years the = new scale=20 has been in existence.  The gains on the SAT are not = attributable=20 mostly to Asian-American students.  If one removes these students = from the=20 sample, there is still a large, 57%, gain for blacks, whites, and=20 Hispanics.
 
3.  In the most recent international comparison = of=20 reading skills, American students finished second among 29 = nations. =20 Moloney pooh-poohs a conspiracy theory to bash schools, but the = ideologues at=20 the Bush Department of Education, Lamar Alexander, Diane Ravitch and = their ilk,=20 did try to hide this study.  Even the industry newspaper, = Education=20 Week, found out about it only by accident--a Europe-dwelling friend = of an=20 Ed Week reporter sent him a copy from Germany.  The Department had = held a=20 large press conference five months earlier for a math-science study = where some=20 American ranks were low.  It touted that study.  It was = entirely=20 silent about the reading study and when USA Today played off = the Ed=20 Week story with its own, its story carried a quote from a Department = official=20 dismissing the study.
 
4.  The number of students taking Advanced = Placement=20 tests has soared from 98,000 in 1978 to almost 1,000,000 in 1998. =20
 
5. In the Third International Mathematics and = Science=20 Study (TIMSS), American 4th graders as noted, were well above = average. =20 American 8th graders were average in both subjects among the 41 nations = tested=20 at that grade.  American high school seniors appeared to finish = low, but,=20 again, the operative word is "appeared."  Only 5 of the 24 = countries met=20 the study's criteria for producing valid data.  That data should = never have=20 been published. 
 
There were cultural differences that produced huge = differences=20 in scores.  For instance, in most countries, you are either a = worker or a=20 student, not both.  But 55% of American kids in the study reported = they=20 worked at least 21 hours a week at a paid job.  The research on = working and=20 school performance is quite clear: students who work up to 20 hours a = week do=20 better than those who work more or those who don't work at all.  = These=20 results showed up in TIMSS, too: students who worked up to 21 hours a = week had=20 an average score.  The 28% of those students who worked 21-35 hours = a week=20 scored considerably lower; the 275 who worked more than 35 hours a week = fell off=20 the charts (readers interested in the many flaws of the TIMSS final year = study=20 can find them documented in articles I wrote for Phi Delta Kappan = in=20 May and September of 1998).
 
None of these data are hard to find.  They all = reside in=20 public documents.  In fact, the data are so available one must = assume that=20 Moloney has deliberately refused to look at them.  If he did he = couldn't=20 maintain his schools-are-failing stance (When Moloney describes me as an = apologist for the status quo, all he really reveals is that he hasn't = actually=20 read anything I've written).
 
Moloney is proud that Colorado will take its place = alongside=20 Virginia as having the toughest accreditation standards in the = nation.  Are=20 you sure, Coloradans, you want to be in our company?  If the = students=20 in Fairfax County, Virginia had taken the TIMSS tests administered = in 41=20 nations, at most one country would have outscored them in math and none = would=20 have in science.  And yet, on the first round of these = accreditation tests,=20 93% of Fairfax' world class schools failed.  People said, oh, no = one took=20 this first administration seriously.  But it sure was the = two-by-four that=20 got the mule's attention.  So how well did a year of intense = study and=20 preparation pay off?  On the second administration, only 23 of the = 202=20 schools in the system passed.  That outcome, I submit, is = ridiculous. =20 Yet it is what Mr. Moloney wants for you.
 
Here's an example of a standard that brought Fairfax = down:  "The student will analyze the regional development of Asia, = Africa,=20 the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of physical, = economic=20 and cultural characteristics and historical evolution from 1000 A. D. to = the=20 present."  This is a 10th grade history standard.  It is not=20 unique.
 
There is much more to say, but this is an op-ed = length article=20 after all (I don't have space to get into the lack of patriotism of = companies=20 out-sourcing jobs to other nations, for instance).  Maybe some = organization=20 should bring me out to Colorado to debate Moloney.  I dare him to = take me=20 on.  In any case, as long as such know-nothings as Moloney = hold=20 positions of power, education will always be in crisis.
 
 
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