First of all, we should "bring a printed copy of the State-posted rating guide for the appropriate subject area." This is because we are patently incapable of making decisions, and cannot do so without the help of the folks in Albany, who know everything. I mean, if I wanted to improve education, it would never occur to me to withhold 250 million bucks from schoolchildren, as Governor Cuomo did, or an entire billion, as Education Commisioner John King wishes. Me, I'd figure withholding funds could hurt kids. But what do I know?
Next, "to protect the integrity and confidentiality of the scoring process, scorers may not use any electronic devices in the scoring room, including cell phones, iPads, iPods, computers, tablets, etc." That's because I, like most teachers, would find nothing so hilarious as posting some kid's essay on Facebook with his full name. And how would I be able to resist ridiculing it for my thousands of followers, even if I had to do so 140 characters at a time on Twitter? Or maybe I'd scan it for the amusement of my friends and family. Thankfully, the DOE, in their infinite wisdom, has not allowed me to do this.
"Scorers may not listen to music while scoring." Because once the beat has me, I might just get up and dance, and teachers, lemming-like creatures that we are, would just get up and boogie along with me. Then it will be a big dance party, someone will film it on their iPhone, it will get broadcast on Fox News, and Mayor Bloomberg will declare, "This is clear evidence we must judge teachers by junk science."
"Scorers may not eat at the scoring tables with the exception of hard candy." Because what teacher could resist the urge to stick Jujifruits to test papers, or block out words with pieces of caramel. Mayor Bloomberg knows very well you can't do that with a piece of Jolly Rancher.
"No liquids are permitted at the scoring tables except for water in a closed container which must be kept on the floor." Now this one confused me. Was I allowed to open the container? And even if I was, how could I drink said water without picking it up from the floor? Dare I try? Would this be what finally lands me in the rubber room?
"Conversation should be kept to a minimum to avoid distracting other scorers." Good point. Because people locked in a room for six hours straight, in blatant violation of UFT contract, tend to talk. And how can any learning take place when people are talking? Clearly the only way to do anything productive is to sit around for hours with no interaction whatsoever. That must be in the Danielson framework somewhere. I'll have to check.
"Any discussions at the table should be about the rubric." Hey, how about that rubric? It's a wacky and wonderful thing, isn't it? I used to have a rubric's cube when I was a kid. Spent hours with the thing. That's not what it is? You mean you just don't like bricks? You rue bricks? No? Well, then, what the hell are we talking about?
I, for one, am gratified to know that someone is paid many times my salary to sit around, think about this stuff, and put it into words. I could certainly never come up with it on my own.
Ah, yes, sounds suspiciously like my time grading the middle school level ELA and math tests. This post almost made English breakfast tea come out my nose. Will be sharing.
ReplyDeleteWait, you missed the UPS party back at your school! I now know where to apply when they fire me for low test scores.
ReplyDeleteThe new regulations were "outlined" in a 20 page memo (DAPS #4 on line if you want to look). With the rest of the department out grading or proctoring, it was me and 2 Regents exams to box to send to Pearson for electronic scanning!!!! To summarize my end of day/evening, collect tests and answer booklets and two pages of Scantrons and calculators from each proctor. Bubble in absent on student answer sheet, testing accomodations and performance test score (ES only) on teacher answer sheet. Separate chemistry and Earth Science answer booklets for shipping to be ready for pick up by courier by 7:30 am today. Yes 7:30 am for turn around on afternoon exams with extending time/conflict rooms running. Each answer booklet got a pre-printed sticker stuck on the upper left hand corner as close to the edge as possible and with the text parallel to that printed on the answer booklet. For walk-ins, use a generic label with just a number. No instruction to put the student's name on it but let's just assume they will somehow figure out how to match it up later while electronically scoring. Then be sure to remove anything from the answer booklet that might interfere with an optical scanning machine (their detailed list forgot eraser crud). Then each room was packaged with a room attendance sheet (their yellow one, not yours) AND one or more stack cards which have to be filled out with redundant information. Stacks of tests must be bundled with a stack card on top and bound with two paper strips (provided with adhesive) along the indicated lines on the stack card. All the stacks from each room then go in their own separate poly-bag (large zip lock bag). All the poly-bags from each exam go into their own shipping boxes with a packing slip filled out again with the same information. Mind you, the exams are going to the same place but separate boxes please. The boxes are then sealed, affixed with shipping labels and indicate how many boxes (1 of 1 for example). Then put in the testing coordinators office until pick up. Oh yeah, and the AP has to surrender their name and CELL PHONE number to assume responsibility for the shipment!Best line on packing slip (caps are theirs)TOTAL NUMBER OF ROOMS IN THE BOX: ____My test coordinator said that I should not write 0 even though that is the correct answer. Can I cross out 'rooms' and write 'poly bags'? Mild glare (and our coordinator is a really nice guy). I could not resist putting a small question mark under the word 'rooms'. After making up their own names for all the paperwork, they asked for rooms to be packaged up. We need ours next semester even if a few seniors do graduate. And these are the same people who are writing the exams!!!!!!!!
I also must admit that when I pointed out my need for help, the testing coordinator found other teachers from different departments on late shift to make a packing party so it would get done.
And for full disclosure, evidently the Global History teachers are a reliable bunch since they are grading their own exams in the school. And we Earth Science teachers got to grade the performance test. No directive from NYC DOE to avoid grading own students even though that is the explicit directive of the state law. Has been for many years, but another one that Tweed ignored because how can a new small school with one teacher per subject avoid the situation.
Sorry this is long, but I would have rather been grading. At least my education and knowledge is being put to some use.
Step One: Force students to take high stakes tests that are to be used to rate teachers and schools.
ReplyDeleteStep Two: Feign shock and indignation when the inevitable cheating and gaming of the tests occurs.
Step Three: Refuse to reconsider the misguided (if not sinister) obsession with testing; instead, devote dwindling resources to the creation of an enforcement bureaucracy that is distrustful and disrespectful of teachers.
Step Four: Behave like North Korean apparatchiks as you oversee the grading of invalid, ineptly-written exams in repressive, punitive environments.
Presto! We're Done!
Amen.
Deletemakes me happy to be gone!
ReplyDeleteI, too, like BHSLibrary, thoroughly enjoyed meeting you. You really shared some wonderful information that I didn't know before. I think you really capture the truth about this system and I plan to follow your posts daily. All the best to you! (ps...I look more like my father than my aunt.)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. I was honored to meet both of you. And I have to admit everyone in your school made us feel very welcome and was very kind to us.
ReplyDeleteHow did you get a printed copy of the rating guide? Can't get them from the state website (password protected). This was a problem last June (when I was distributed to a center) too.
ReplyDeleteI was handed one at the grading site. One of my colleagues told me she had clicked somewhere on the email sending her there, and saw it on the computer. However, she is much smarter than I am, I couldn't figure how she did it, and I was stuck copying from the paper.
ReplyDeleteTrue story. I was giving a regents. The kids were sitting next to each other. They were also talking to each other. I changed there seats. One of the kids jumps up and says I am getting the Mr. ( name left out. He was the AP)
ReplyDeleteThe AP walks in and demands to know why I changed there seats. I explained to him it was because the students were taking to each other and looking at each other papers. The next words out of his mouth were "change them back". He then left the room. He went on to become a principal. That is what this system is all about. That is what this chancellor wants. Anything to raise graduation rated. And allowing cheating is priority number one.
That's awful. I routinely move kids when I suspect cheating. I often move the kid who isn't cheating, whose paper I think is being copied, so as to preclude protests. It's idiotic to remove that option from the teacher, unless you actually want to encourage and enable cheating.
ReplyDeletei don't know what i'd have done with all my free time during this grading traveshamocracy if they took away my phone. out of the 12 hours i spent sitting on an uncomfortable seat in a classroom with no heat, i spent maybe three hours grading. the rest was spent sitting there and waiting for our next set of instructions.
ReplyDeleteand why on earth are exams being graded by people who aren't certified in that subject area? in my small group of six, only two of us were certified as living environment. even more puzzling - although i'm certified in living environment and physics, and sent 50 kids to take the physics regents, why was i denied a position grading physics exams while teachers WITHOUT physics certifications were accepted?
one last gripe - there was a lot of 'young teacher' animosity at the grading. comments were thrown around about the incompetence of 'young teachers' and how 'young teachers' were REALLY the ones to blame for all of the problems in the nyc public education system. while i'm ten years out of college, i was informed on several occasions that i was still a 'young teacher' and didn't know what i was talking about. here's the thing - not all 'young teachers' are pro-deform or joining alliances with E$E. some of us actually support things like tenure, dislike VAM/growth-models, and possess a deep, enduring hatred for all things bloomberg/gates/rhee/broad/etc.
but until these vociferous 'old teachers' look past their own circle of friends to see that someone who doesn't look like them still holds similar beliefs, we, as teachers, are dead in the water.
I don't believe in stereotypes, at all, and that includes stereotypes for old and/ or young teachers. It's really unfortunate and counter-productive that we, as teachers, would perpetuate any stereotypes whatsoever.
ReplyDeletetheir
ReplyDeleteDespite the discontents of extramural grading,
ReplyDeleteit is an idea too long thwarted by the DOE/UFT/
Regents and the only way to stop the tampering cold.
The rules and regulations are so typical of our great leaders. But...I do know of many instances where there has been cheating when we were allowed to grade our own school's exams. You know what I mean...when that math teacher's students passed with a ridiculously high percentage but the other students didn't. I have witnessed so many incidents of cheating that it scares me.
ReplyDeleteThank you for being able to see the humor through the stupidity.
Yes, the English Regents grading this year was a farce and that's an understatement. Thank you to whoever wrote this article. I was at John Bowne grading English Regents and what a mess it was. Not only did we have to sit through 2 hours of norming, which was a waste of a morning, we were given packets with half the xeroxed pages missing. The organization of the rooms for grading was confusing as several teachers were assigned rooms but were supposed to be in other rooms. Also, I heard from other rooms that the supervisor told people not walk around as it was distracting and not to use cell phones, but the supervisor who was an A.P., big surprise for A.P.'s are the biggest hypocrites, was walking in and out of the room and using her cell phone repeatedly. Another supervisor in another room was supposedly acting like a Gestapo. Thank God I didn't experience this in my room. In my room, we were at least treated like professionals. Also, we finished grading by 12:00 but we were told we couldn't leave until 3:00, so we spent 3 hours chatting since there was nothing else to do. Some rooms weren't allowed to leave until after 3:00, but we couldn't expect supervisors to all be on the same page now can we?
ReplyDeleteI did see one good thing come out of this. I saw that students in other schools wrote as poorly as students in my school. This was especially true with the papers I received from Queens Vocational, which by the way received an A, on their school report card. One student for the Critical lens essay used Fifty Shades of Gray while another used Spiderman and Batman as literature. I guess that's better though than the 3 students that completely left out the critical lens essay. This shows me that there's definite grade inflation going on with these schools receiving high grades.
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