EOG - Pass or Fail?

They start the pressure right after Christmas break.

 

Okay.. it wasn't pass or fail. It was whether or not they did their "prove it steps". "Prove it steps" are for reading, highlighting the answers in the passages and in math its circle the numbers, highlight key words, underline labels, bracket the question(s), eliminate extra information then solve.

... Straight from my little horses mouth. He also says every one got their toppings - in varying amounts depending on the steps taken. And no one liked the strawberry syrup. :ack:

 

The ice cream thing was provided, I presume, by the grade level teachers. I merely mentioned serving it as to preclude someone saying their child didn't get as much ice cream as another. I'm sure that other schools and classes did something similar. I don't speak for all, just the classes I volunteered to help.

Yes, there are some kids who simply crunch their tests. They do well academically all year, but just don't test well. I understand that. And I'm sure that the school has a remedy for this.

Perhaps some of my words were interpreted as a blanket indictment against parents. Not true. I are one. And my child struggles with learning just as many other kids do. We do what we can to help her and guide her. We also reinforce that her tests do not validate her worth. Her support system does that.

Of the retests today, most of the kids did well, paced themselves, and seemed comfortable with the test. I'm hoping that they did well.

 

First completed was the whipped topping in the can. I really think the kids wanted me to do "shots" of it in their mouths, but I could not. Next up was the pnut butter and chocolate chips. Oreo cookies and some other things went next. Chocolate syrup didn't last. I do believe we had straberry stuff left, in large quantities...LOL

 

Sounds to me like children were singled out based on their test taking skills. Shame on the school!!! How a child approached and performed on the test should not be public knowledge nor used against them in presence of their peers! Sure some kids probably didn't bother to try their best and implement the strategies but there are most likely many who just don't test well. These EOGs have gotten SO way out of hand!

 

Sorry, Mom, but I disagree with ya here. No child was singled out, or embarrassed at the site I was volunteering, over their use of strategies. Having been there all week, I know that the teachers reminded the student of test taking strategies that are proven to help. Most of the students I saw followed through with them. Without having the numbers to quantify it, I still perceive that using those techniques was helpful. According to my DD, they were.

I know that the teachers spent some time teaching these. Should it have been an option for the students? I don't think so. These techniques can be used for any test, whether EOG or regular school testing. I can practically hear the complaints had a student been denied the opportunity to learn them or had only a certain few students been taught them.

As I've maintained all along. It's a test. Just a test. And if it reflects what a student has been doing all year, well, then it's fairly accurate. If for extraordinary reasons, a student who has done well all year doesn't do well, there are processes in place to address those as well.

Seems that there can be no argument as to why a student wouldn't take advantage of every opportunity to succeed, unless it's because of obstinancy. It seems to me that a parent would be grateful that the teachers were willing to at least try to teach some strategies to make the tests less stressful.

Know this. Neither the teachers nor the Admin wants any stress or harm to the students. EOG's is a requirement. It seems that if there is enough demand for its removal, politicians will be only too happy to mkae it go away. I understand your frustration. Seems to me the schools are being blamed for it. They're doing what they are required to do.

My child knows that EOGs are one part of the evaluation of how the school year is. She also knows that her self worth is not cemented to the grade.

 

I know the teachers worked very very hard...and I know at Mcgee's that for the last 8 weeks they stayed afterschool a extra hour and had tutoring for the kids that were borderline on the 3rd nine weeks pretest. They had reading and Math. A lot of kids took these classes it was not manatory for them to do this..it made a long day for the kids and the teachers as well..but I will have to say at first I didn't agree with it cause Dd was on the honor roll, but the more it was explained to me, the more I understood and in time my DD understood.
I still don't agree with the EOG's in general, but I just wanted to say I think this extra tutoring helped out my Kid and wanted to thank the teachers for taking the extra time to do it.

 

"As I've maintained all along. It's a test. Just a test. And if it reflects what a student has been doing all year, well, then it's fairly accurate. If for extraordinary reasons, a student who has done well all year doesn't do well, there are processes in place to address those as well." (I am quoting Hattera6)

But the problem with EOGs is in all too many cases it is NOT a reflection of what a child knows. When a child makes B & C's all year long could you explain to me (since you seem to have all the EOG answers) how they fail, by alot, the EOG. And you said that in these extraordinary cases there is a process in place to address that what would the process be that you are referring to?

 

Mom,
I do not have all the EOG answers. I am not a school teacher, nor an administrator. I am involved with the schools, almost daily, volunteering mostly, sub teaching some.

I would suggest you call your child's school for your questions. They will be able to guide you. Make sure that you mention your concerns as to grades all year versus the EOG scores.

 

Eog

Parents from my area are talking about how much we are against the whole EOG mania. I find it interesting that home schoolers and private school students do not have to take the eog. Now tell me the eog is mainly not about funding schools based on scores. If your kid makes straight A's all year and fails EOG then they can remediate and retest, if they fail again you as a parent can request a waiver to move them to next grade level. So what is the point in taking the test at all? I am sure most of us are old enough to remember coming through school without EOG's, I think we just did CATS once a year. Do we have a lack of critical thinking skills? Read the skills and objectives on the NC DPI site and see if you feel you have attained these though school, college, life experience, etc. I am agianst NCLB and EOG, read the research that says high stakes testing is not a good way to show anything about the kid or teacher or school. Why don't we use portfolio examples, quarter assesments or 9 week exams produced by the teacher teams should be suffiecient to prove a child has mastered objectives. We need to exalt teachers as professionals and have enough respect and trust for them to be aware if a child is struggling. The EOG's say we don't trust the schools or teachers to tell us honestly if the kids are receiving an education. I am not a teacher, but a parent who would love to see NC do away with EOG/opt out of NCLB.

 

And how do we then replace the federal funds that would be lost because we are not in compliance? NC won't pay teachers what they're worth now. Never have. Probably never will.

I believe that all children should take the test...or none.

And, we as a nation should begin a honest, forthright dialogue as to whether we want our children to be able to compete in the world's marketplace by being educated so they are competitive, or else we will have to admit that we don't want to invest the resources in the things we need to do for them to be competitive.

We can't have it both ways. It's a "fish ro cut bait" kind of thing.

We can do it the easy way. Or we can make the difficult choices. Once that decision is made, we need to accept it for what it is.

I choose to emphasize and appropriately provide the resources to mine academically so she will be competitive.

 

Kids that are homeschooled or in private school have to take an end of year test, no? To prove that they know the material and can move on to the next grade? I know there is a test for homeschooled kids in Va. The reason why the public schools do - is because they are publicly funded and have to be held accountable to NCLB. Plain and simple.

It was a good idea in theory, but it has backfired. Instead of ensuring that kids are getting a good educations and up to par with other schools, they are just being taught the test. In turn some kids are learning to hustle the test. How a multiple choice calculator-active question that gives the answer in the form of the question, and the stuent has four formulas to choose from proves that anything was learned other than how to press buttons on a calculator is beyond me.

 

Cleo,
You're putting words in my mouth and they taste delectable.
H6

 

Mmmmm. Do you want an ice cream cone cupcake, too?

 

Hat, I secretly wonder if the kids are being taught hustling techniques like that.

 

IMHO,
they need to toss these test in the trash and get back to the basic fundmentals of teaching, better teacher/student ratios, better books, strengthen basic skills such as math/reading/writing.
Amazing that in the past anyone turned out to be worth a hoot or was able to achieve success, guess someone forgot to tell them they couldn't succeed without taking a test.
I always told my two girls that this test was not an indicator as to how intelligent they were or if they would/would not succeed in life, just a test, do the best you can do. Mine always did great on these test and I contribute it to not making so much out of it, taking some of the stress off before the test, letting them know that this was not a do-or-die situation. Recently read about some of the colleges not requiring the PSAT or SAT scores as a basis for admission now, go fugure.

 

I hate to say it, but they are a waste in my opinion. I know my son's class has gotten nothing new accomplished since last week. They may as well have ended classes for the year as soon as the last kid handed their test in. I'm fed up with the whole thing. IMO, we are only testing how well you can take this test. But I'm just a parent, what do I know? Waiting for an educator or psuedo-educator to tell me how wrong I am.

And it's hardly sour grapes, my son did exceptionally well on the test. But that should have been expected since he also does exceptionally well on a daily basis. Let's teach our kids what they need to know and stop wasting time teaching to this test.

 

I've seen the calculators. I wasn't sure if one could input formulae on them, but I's sure they could. As much as I respect and want to believe that no teacher I know would teach that, or even suggest or intimate it in any way, these days there's now way to be sure.

I would suggest that the calculators should be mathematical ones, not programmable ones.

The sole "suggestion" I saw implemented was for the studetn to write down formulae, and math reminders on their blank sheets if they needed to refer to them. Most of the students who did this appeared to do well, as far as I could tell. As I proctored, I moved about the room.

I will say to parents of kids who are retesting tell them on a calculator allowed test to USE THE DARNED CALCULATOR. I proctored one today, where the student was allowed to use the calculator. Among the questions read aloud was one of adding a 6 digit number to a 5 digit number to a 4 digit number. Easy Peezy on a calculator. Did the student use it? NO! Did the student write down the figures on a blank sheet and add up the columns? NO! The student just checked off an answer, before the administrator finished reading the question.

There's pressure on most everybody..students, teachers, and administrators, just not those parents who should have been engaged. If you're reading this on this board, chances are that you aren't the parent I mean.

As a student back in the day, my math skills were dismal. I can only dream about the success I could have had, if I could have used a calculator. We didn't have enough abacus things to pass around. And slide rules were used by the brainiacs, not us run of the mill kids.