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This is exciting news, especially for schools who have been showing yearly gains but still fall short. I just hope the state doesn't (didn't) screw up their proposal and make it just as bad as the original. It's time for schools to start receiving recognition for improving and growing, not just passing.
6 states given permission to tweak No Child Left Behind | pal-item.com | Palladium-Item
In my opinion, the rubric tool is the best thing since sliced bread for implementing RtI and helping to improve ISTEP scores. Teach-nology used to be my favorite rubric maker, as it had a wide choice of pre-made rubrics and also had a very simple create-your-own maker. This site has since won over my heart. The feature that makes this so great is the ability to include the state standards, down to the sub-standard (ex. 4.5.3) in rubrics you create to fit your assignments. Also, you can add standards from all different subject matter AND grade level. So, for example, you have a student that reads at 5th grade level but does math on an 8th grade level. You would be able to tailor the different parts of an assignment to suit the different performance levels and fit the rubric the the project. This type of differentiation is going to be an absolute necessity with the implementation of RtI in the next few years.
The rubric on my page is one I did with our 5/6 choir band students on designing their own guitar after watching a small portion of "Guitar Heroes" in Ken Burns' History of Rock & Roll. I tried to include a variety of subject matter, including writing, as that is one of our focus areas for school improvement, while keeping the assignment interesting to the kids.
This is a very interesting article on an unintended side-effect that occurs because of the way AYP is measured. I have noticed, looking at our NWEA MAP scores, this trend with our students. Our proficiency based on the NWEA/Indiana Standard ISTEP alignment is very good, however when you look at the graphs that show proficient/non-proficient verses growth, the kids that are above average aren't growing. The over-all growth rate for all our students that take this test is at 45%, which under a growth-based AYP would be a major problem.
I think maybe those that wrote this law assumed that the higher performing students would be intrinsically motivated to do well, which, many times, is definitely not the case. They do the minimum to get by and pass their tests and that is all. They have no reason to improve their scores, since all that is needed is a passing cut score.
