I think there is an excellent match between the CA standards and the state tests. In the released versions of the tests, as a matter of fact, they correlate ever question to the standard.
----- Original Message ----- From: Julie Santello Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 2:14 PM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Students who don't learn to read I'm not sure if anyone has brought this up yet because I am behind in reading posts, but does your state have a state specifications that are released? I read an interesting article in The American Educator that points out that most states benchmarks are not correlated to the test specifications that they give the test makers. I have looked at ours (FL) when I was teaching intermediate and they are VERY eye opening. Were our benchmark may read something like "Students will learn how affixes work", the state specifications may say "In 3rd grade students will be able to use the prefixes un, re, and pre..." I highly recommend checking into this, because if I remember correctly that only about 3% of states correlate their benchmarks and test specifications. Julie On Jul 20, 2007, at 9:31 PM, Joan Matuga wrote: > My California district sent all teachers to a one week seminar put > out by Professional Development Reading Institutes this summer. It > is sponsored by Reading Lions Center/Sacramento County Office of > Education. The purpose of the training was to show us how to > correctly implement HM. > > I use the MOT strategies and have read (and tried to implement) > many of the professional books discussed in this group. Many/most > teachers in my school use these strategies too. I think I am a > good teacher; the staff at my school is excellent. My school is > one of the highest rated schools in the state . However, look at > these results for the state tests for students in my school: 38% > of students in second grade, 51% in third grade, 34% in fourth > grade, 44% in fifth grade, and 28% in sixth grade are basic or > below basic on the state tests. These % are far, far, far, above > the state % for proficient and advanced. The % figures for the > state of California for basic and below basic are as follows for > Language Arts: Gr2: 53%; Gr3 63%; Gr4: 51%; Gr5: 57%; > Gr6: 59%. These % scare me. I'm sure they scare the state > education officials too. Our district was concerned too and this > is the reason all teachers are being paid to attend these > trainings. Each state has their own > tests and some states that look proficient on state-administered > tests are woefully failing if reading is measured on national tests? > > There are far too many children in our schools who are not > "reading"; they are just word-calling. We can't put all the blame > on basals because many teachers are not using basals. I'm not so > sure we can blame the test either; the test does test the > standards. Most teachers work extremely hard and are trying to > do their best to teach. Some teachers use too many worksheets. > Some parents are not supportive. > > Middle school and high school teachers, college professors, and > employers are all commenting on the fact that there is a problem > with the reading, writing, and math of their students/employees. > > Poverty, EL students, etc. are among the reasons for the low > scores. There are many other factors too. However, we have to > accept the fact that these are our students. We have to teach > them. We can't afford to have these students drop out or muddle > through school somehow. > > NCLB may be a politically motivated document. However, the reading > rates are alarming. > > Are you meeting the needs of 90% of your students? > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
