From Devoted Reader Kevin comes this article in The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA). Author Will Sentel reports that Glenny Lee Buquet, president of Louisiana's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, has claimed that the state is grading education programs far too easily:
A state review released last week said 12 of 19 public and private colleges and universities, including LSU and Southern University, earned top marks for the way they train teachers. But Glenny Lee Buquet of Houma, president of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, said this week that evaluators need to take a more-detailed look at how students are faring when so many schools win high marks.
"There is something not quite right there," Buquet said...
Of the 57 grades given to the teacher-training schools -- each was rated in three categories -- 42 grades are "As."
One of the categories is the percentage of students who passed a key exam required of students who hope to be teachers, known as PRAXIS. Part of that test measures an aspiring teacher's knowledge of math, reading and writing.
Louisiana's minimum passing marks on the test are among the lowest of states that use it. Students typically take part of the test to enter a university's college of education and the rest before they leave school.
Buquet said the state needs to study scores students get on the PRAXIS tests, not simply whether they passed it, in helping to decide what grade colleges and universities get.
"I want to see more detail," Buquet said. "I think a pass/fail on the PRAXIS doesn't give us the whole story. I want to see the actual scores."
I agree. Also, one of the other categories in which schools were rated was student satisfaction, and every school got an A or a B in that category. This could be useful, but it could also be meaningless.
Posted by kswygert at April 16, 2004 09:55 AM