Student State Test Scores

* In response to “Students Fall Short in New State Tests,” March 9:

Why is everyone so surprised that California schools are failing? You get what you pay for; and here in California that’s not much. Let’s get our priorities straight. The future of our country is education. Plain and simple.

KATHLEEN GALLAHER

Trabuco Canyon

* Is it really any surprise that our test scores are so low? As a teacher that has seen state bureaucrats, district administrators, education experts, and politicians use every gimmick in the world to cajole, manipulate, disguise and obfuscate testing scores, this comes as no surprise to my colleagues and myself.

What is interesting is that ignored realities do not evaporate after pompous declarations have been made by any of the previously mentioned interests. The realities are the following. Students are not challenged by their reading. They are not reading enough, let alone understanding what they read. Students and parents spend too much time watching television. Students live up or down to the expectations of their parents. Two-parent families have children who outperform those of single-parent families. Students need to do numerous pages of homework most nights of the week and do them well! They also need to be in school as much as possible. Lastly, you can tell students they need to learn, but they must also believe they “need” to learn.

It is time to focus on students working hard to meet academic challenges. Learning is hard work and when done properly very rewarding. R. TIMBERLAKE

Torrance

* It’s not surprising the overall results for mathematical tests were abysmally low. I have a bachelor’s degree in math and a master’s degree from MIT. It took me 15 minutes to figure out how to evaluate my son’s school compared to some kind of averages or ordering. It was a multi-step process which most readers wouldn’t bother with!

For example, the “guide to tables” says the numbers don’t necessarily add to 100%. If you look at the LAUSD Broadous Elementary School reading results for fourth grade the numbers add up to 94%. Even if each number was truncated down to a lower integer, the scores could never add to 94%.

If the administrators and teachers think those charts are useful and meaningful information (as opposed to data), it’s no wonder the students do so poorly in practical math questions! Were the results so poor that the information had to be intentionally obfuscated to avoid public outcry? What happened to learned educators?

KENNETH W. GORMAN

Manhattan Beach

* I know how hard teachers work, as I am a teacher. Do I dare admit I am a math teacher? I also know how hard most of my students work, and those that do work and study and practice are knowledgeable. I was appalled when I first saw the type of questions that would be asked of students on the CLAS test--not because they were so hard, but because they were so vague, and because they could only be scored subjectively, based on someone else’s opinion.

For example, one question asked students to assume the role of a bowling team coach and determine which of two students, based on given bowling scores, should make the team. Highest points for the problem were not awarded for correctly averaging the scores and determining who had scored more pins, although that determination did earn some points. Highest scores were awarded to students who determined that the highest scorer shouldn’t make the team because his scores were erratic. The team spot should go to the lower scorer because he was a more consistent bowler.

Although there has surely been great time, effort, and money spent preparing and administering these tests, the bottom line is that they are scored based on someone’s opinion, even though several people apparently read each test. Papers are lost, opinions differ, people get tired of reading through literally millions of documents. These tests represent an enormous drain on taxpayer dollars, and I believe they are so seriously flawed in presentation and evaluation that they will never be a valuable assessment tool for California schools.

LORRIE FARRELLY

Yorba Linda

* I kept reading about whether or not the teachers were prepared for the tests--familiar with the tests. How about some emphasis on the important factor, that is the students’ preparations and familiarity with the subject matter, to the extent that they could pass any test given!

CHERYL KOHR

Redondo Beach