Kaplan Test Prep survey highlights pressure on officers to admit certain students By Tara García Mathewson | April 6, 2015 Sometimes, it’s who you know. Kaplan Test Prep recently surveyed…
by Yasmeen KhanNext week, students across New York will take the standardized tests in English, followed a week later by the tests in math. The exams are difficult for most children, with results showing that the large majority of students are not meeting grade-level standards. The numbers are worse for students with disabilities. Statewide, just a tiny fraction of students passed the tests: about 5 percent received high enough scores to be considered on grade level in English; about 9 percent did in math.Many educators and disability rights advocates have said that the standardized tests offer frustration and stress, rather than opportunity, for special needs students. In fact, they may do a better job testing students’ disabilities than abilities, said Richard Lavoie, a special educator based in Boston.Read the rest of the story at WNYC.org.
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS APRIL 2, 2015The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs has begun an investigation into four for-profit colleges over concerns about students’ dropout and loan-default rates, and the ways in which students are recruited in the first place.For-profit colleges have been under increased scrutiny at all levels of government in recent years, amid growing concern that many of their students are left shouldering unwieldy debt but unable to find good jobs, and that tax payers are being debited in the process.“What we are concerned about,” said Julie Menin, the commissioner of consumer affairs, speaking about problems within the industry at large, “is that predatory, for-profit colleges are taking advantage of the ambition that so many New Yorkers with low incomes have for a better life, and cheating them out of their dreams and their money.”Read the rest of the story at The New York Times
I n a dramatic conclusion to what has been described as the largest cheating scandal in the nation’s history, a jury here on Wednesday convicted 11 educators for their roles in a standardized test cheating scandal that tarnished a major school district’s reputation and raised broader questions about the role of high-stakes testing in American schools.On their eighth day of deliberations, the jurors convicted 11 of the 12 defendants of racketeering, a felony that carries up to 20 years in prison. Many of the defendants — a mixture of Atlanta public school teachers, testing coordinators and administrators — were also convicted of other charges, such as making false statements, that could add years to their sentences.Judge Jerry W. Baxter of Fulton County Superior Court ordered most of the educators jailed immediately, and they were led from the courtroom in handcuffs. Judge Baxter, who presided over a trial that began with opening statements more than six months ago, will begin sentencing hearings next week. Read the rest of the story in The New York Times
by James Marshall Crotty M y late mother had a pet peeve about the proper use of “me” and “I.” She measured your mental acuity, not to mention your socioeconomic standing, by whether you implicitly understood when to say either.Incorrect: Mark Williams and me are going to see Southside Johnny at the Music Box Correct: Mark Williams and I are going to see Southside Johnny at the Music Box.Looking back, I don’t blame mom. No other aspect of cultural capital more readily marks an educated person than his or her ability to consistently speak and write grammatically correct English.As the author of How To Talk American (Houghton Mifflin), I am all about spicing up one’s speaking and writing from a wide vernacular palette. However, if you say “we wuz” or “I be” without your learned tongue planted firmly in cheek, then you will struggle to maintain credibility in all but the most mercenary and low-brow circles. Read the rest of the story at Forbes.