Specifically why is it made so darn confusing? Weighted scores, students moving from Far Below Basic to even just Basic earns you point incentives? I mean people go ape-poop over the results and get either super excited or super bummed however I bet 98 out of a 100 couldn't figure out how that figure came about.
Here is the most recent 78 page explanation how the API is calculated.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/documents/infoguide09.pdf
Rather than making it some number that everyone waits for the Wizard of Oz to release every September because that basically what the API "scores" being released amounts to, why don't the "keep it simple dummy?"
I would propose that they release the raw score average in math, LA, science and social studies along with the school's and district's Standard Deviation. Ultimately a student's raw score matters (e.g. SATs) and a school with an allegedly great average but an abnormally high standard deviation would raise eyebrows regarding if all students are being well served. Furthermore as a parent, I would love to see how my son's raw scores compared to the school's avg and while also comparing the school's averages in nearby communities.
No comments:
Post a Comment