Rhee's Gaming The NCLB System

She's Got Game !
"Gaming the System means, simply, using the rules, policies and procedures of a system against itself for purposes outside what these rules were intended for. Most of the time, a set of rules will be put in place towards a simple goal. People who study the rules closely can then use this massive (often contradictory) ruleset to play the "game" their own, unexpected way."


On paper, DCPS has showed gains in improving its standardized test scores. But WaPo staff writer Bill Turque's article on July 17 as well as a July 20 WaPo letter to the editor by James Crawford support that Chancellor Michell Rhee is manipulating statistics to make DC Schools appear better than they really are. A review of the literature reveals that it isn't uncommon practice for jurisdictions to game the system under NCLB by finding loopholes in the 2002 law that measures annual progress of all students' reading and math at grade level by the year 2014.

A few of the common tactics used to game the system include:

1. limiting the number of test scores used to chart progress in closing the achievement gap between minority and white students. The higher a jurisdiction sets a subgroup size, the more groups such as disabled students and other subgroups are excluded. For instance setting a group to a size of 40 may exclude disabled students if the school does not have a population of of 40 disabled students.

2. Another commonly used tactic is using the performance index which gives jurisdictions half the credit for students who aren't proficient. This tactic makes it easier for local jurisdictions to make annual progress. In 2005-06, the state of Alabama used this tactic. Since they had up to 85% of their students at the basic level, almost half of their students were counted as proficient using this tactic even though they weren't proficient.

Both the recent Bill Turque article and the Crawford letter (listed below) both underscore the need for an independent evaluation of Chancellor Rhee's reform. This independent evaluation would provide us with an objective overall measure of progress that looks at a many variables other than just DC-CAS score which can be manipulated. Some of the other variables that would probably be considered include high school graduation rate , National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) a test taken by a cross-section of students in each jurisdiction as well as a number of other critical factors. The editorial titled Education Chicanery in the District by James Crawford from the Institute on Language and Education Policy delves into what Crawford characterizes as deceptive testing tactics by the Rhee administration that provides misleading results. Here it is in its entirety:

Educational Chicanery in the District

"Bill Turque provided some valuable insights into the manipulation of student test scores for political advantage ["Testing Tactics Helped Fuel D.C. School Gains," Metro, July 17]. Removing low scorers from the testing pool is an effortless way to raise average scores and create the illusion of progress for D.C. schools. But it prevents any fair comparison with test results from prior years.

Intensive teaching to the test, especially for students on the cusp of "proficiency," is even more pernicious. It destroys the validity of academic assessments, which are designed to sample a broad range of skills and knowledge. Narrowing instruction to items expected to be on the test is like holding a match under the thermostat. It produces misleading results, not to mention an impoverished curriculum.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee have taken credit for what they call "steady gains" by students. But pumping up test scores by artificial means tells us nothing about whether children are learning. It's too bad The Post relied on a euphemism -- "improved statistical housekeeping" -- to characterize these deceptive tactics. A more accurate description would be "gaming the system."

JAMES CRAWFORD
President
Institute for Language and Education Policy
Washington

Posted by The Washington Teacher

editorial courtesy of WaPo, definition courtesy of wiktruth