The twists and turns of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' push for teacher performance pay are generating questions from employees, parents and taxpayers. Here's a primer on keeping up.
To read the bill N.C. Rep. Ruth Samuelson introduced this week to give the CMS board authority to revise teacher pay and evaluations, click here. Note: The part about money is confusing. Superintendent Peter Gorman said it's supposed to indicate that CMS does not expect extra money but also does not expect to be penalized financially for taking this approach. He said it may need clarification.
To read the 2007 law that authorized performance-pay pilots, along with details of the CMS plan that won approval, click here for a state report.
To read questions about testing and performance pay submitted by Gorman's Teacher Advisory Commmittee, with adminstration responses in red type, click here.
To see a new CMS publication explaining all the tests students take, click here.
To see Gorman's video report on testing and teacher effectiveness sent to CMS employees this week, click here.
CMS has extensive reports on its own pay plan and performance pay elsewhere archived here.
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Judge Manning and CMS on testing
As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and stats officials try to sort out how many tests kids should take, Judge Howard Manning has weighed in on a legislative plan to reduce the number of high-school End of Course exams. Manning presides over the long-running Leandro case over constitutional rights to a sound basic education. In Manning's view, eliminating tests jeopardizes students; read his 22-page memo here.
And as CMS officials are gearing up to add tests, here's the memo officials recently sent to schools to explain the process.
And as CMS officials are gearing up to add tests, here's the memo officials recently sent to schools to explain the process.
Key dates and Information for Upcoming District Field Tests and Summative Assessments
CMS will be using district summative assessments as part of an effort to align all courses to the NC Standard Course of Study or CMS objectives in the case of a local course. This will help to calculate student growth and provide data needed to execute Strategic Plan 2014. Additionally, the summative tests support a recent recommendation made during our AdvancED accreditation visit. In order to prepare for these tests, the office of accountability will administer a field test the week of April 4th. After successfully administering the field tests, a pilot administration of the district summative assessments will occur at the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
Items for these assessments have been developed by a professional item vendor and reviewed by CMS staff from the office of accountability and curriculum and instruction. The field tests allow us to test the questions and use the data to make informed decisions about the final version of district summative assessments for the 2011-2012 school year. The tests for the 2010-2011 school year are listed in this document.
Field Test Background: Field tests are part of the normal protocol in developing tests to ensure that the test questions will measure what they are supposed to measure. No feedback from the field tests will be available to teachers or schools since the purpose is to ensure the quality of test field questions not to measure individual student knowledge. The field testing will allow us to administer a pilot summative test this spring to give feedback to teachers and schools on the performance of their class. This feedback from the pilot tests is important to empower schools to adjust their instruction for the 2011-12 school year in light of these new standards.
K-2:
· Subjects tested: Reading/Math/Science/Social Studies
o Performance related tasks only
o Healthful living and visual and performing arts summative testing will be added in the 2011-2012 school year
o Field test window – April 4–8, 2011
o Summative test window – May 9-27, 2011
o Do not count as part of a student’s grade this year
o Results from pilot tests are only to be used for planning purposes
Elementary (3-5)/Middle:
· Science/Social Studies
o Science administered to students in grades 3, 4, 6, and 7. Social studies administered to all students in grades 3-8.
o 40 Multiple Choice
o Field test window – April 6, 2011
o Summative test window – May 9-20, 2011
o Do not count as part of a student’s grade this year
o Results from pilot tests are only to be used for planning purposes
High School:
· Some subjects will have district summative assessments beginning in the 2011-2012 school year
· Subjects tested in spring of 2011: World History, African-American studies, Contemporary Law and Justice, Contemporary Issues in North Carolina, Sociology, Psychology, Greenhouse Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, Forensic Science, Honors Physics, Honors Chemistry, Foundations of English I, Literacy I, English Composition, English 3, English 4, Journalism 1-4, Film as Literature, Student Media Assistant, Foundations of Algebra, Algebra IA, Foundations of Geometry, Intro to Math, Advanced Functions and Modeling, Discrete Mathematics
o In most cases 40 Multiple Choice Questions
o Field test administration window
§ April 6, 2011
o Summative test window
§ June 1-10, 2011
o Any student enrolled in the above courses will take a pilot test in June 2011
o Do not count as 25 percent of a student’s final grade this year
o Results from pilot tests are only to be used for planning purposes
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