Published: 1 years 247 days ago
Sacramento Bee Editorial: On Monday, the California Department of Education released the latest version of the Academic Performance Index with a press release that was designed to conceal rather than inform.
The main exam on which the API is based, the STAR test, has never been secure. With the actual questions on the test long since known to most teachers throughout the state, teachers can teach the actual questions that will be on the exam, and even hand out the right answers during the test, in sessions that are not proctored by any independent authorities. Given the non-secure nature of the STAR test, it is hardly any surprise that the "scores" have gone up every year for a decade.
By contrast, on the secure test that researchers use to evaluate real performance, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, California has been flat-line for that same decade, and in three key components of the NAEP, achievement in California has actually worsened.
In a few weeks we will hold state and nationwide elections. It is up to us as caring parents to make sure that at every debate, in every radio talk show and at every service club appearance, every candidate will be asked if we can count on them to support the right of all families to a quality school that they have freely chosen. The crusade for school choice is, indeed, the civil rights movement of our generation, and the most crucial battle of our time.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/17/3035769/school-choice-is-most-important.html
###