Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/362000
The problem with a lie — even one that everyone agrees with — is that eventually you can't ignore the truth. Enron can't paper over debt and crashes. The housing bubble pops. Now,astherushtowards using standardized test scores to evaluate teachers turns into a retreat, it might be time to face that standardized tests are a lousy way to hold schools accountable. We've been using bubble tests to hold schools and stu- dents accountable for a long time, mostly without anyone asking tough questions about whether the scores were valid measures. Controversy over student testing was slow to develop and then mostly con- cerned the number of tests and the harsh consequences. We never asked whether the thermometer really measured the temperature, even though our education system is based upon the validity of these tests. That's why it's a shock to see the sudden blowback against using these test scores to rate teachers. The snake oil in question is what advocates call the Value-Added Method. They assume, without be- ing sure about the details, that you can use student test scores to measure a teacher's effectiveness, allowing schools to get rid of the dead wood some assume is holding Amer- ican kids back. Education reformers have been trying this for years. Mi- chelle Rhee, the former chan- cellor of the DC public school system in 2007-10, used VAM to rate not only teachers but custodial staff as well. Bill Gates gave a Florida county $100 million to start rating teachers with test scores, and some teachers who taught non-tested subjects were rated with scores of students they didn't have. But again, criticism of VAM focused on the excesses of governmental stupidity, the Orwell-meets-Kafka qual- ity of it all. To most people, it still made sense. At least it did to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who wanted every- one to use it. Normally, states run education policy, but No Child Left Behind contained a bizarre, Lake Wobegon re- quirement that every single child in America should test on grade level by 2014. Dun- can would let states off that hook on the condition that they implement VAM. This is when statisticians pointed out, in language that probably sounded stronger in a faculty dining room, that there was just one, tiny prob- lem with VAM: It was junk science. Using student test scores to measure what effect a teacher had in a classroom was like using body fat per- centage to pick a Super Bowl winner. Of course, they used tweedy phrases, saying that "such es- timates are far too unstable to be considered fair or reliable" (Board on Testing and As- sessment of the National Re- search Council of the National Academy of Sciences) and that VAM had "too many pitfalls to making causal attributions of teacher effectiveness" (Edu- cational Testing Service's Pol- icy Information Center) and were "too imprecise to sup- port some of the desired infer- ences" (Rand Corp.). What really seemed to shake things up was an April report by the American Sta- tistical Association, which said that because VAMs were based only on standardized tests that they were 10 pounds of hooey in a 5-pound bag. And if you're inclined to want the details, here's the phrase that pays: "Most VAM stud- ies find that teachers account for about 1 to 14 percent of the variability in test scores." States began rebelling, say- ing they couldn't make the unworkable work. Duncan withdrew Washington state's waiver when they threw up their hands, but now even the Gates Foundation, once a ma- jor driving force behind VAM, wants to stop using tests to rate teachers and students for at least two years, and Texas, where all this testing madness started, wants to wait a year before implementing VAM. Apparently it's not easy doing the impossible. Without question, teach- ers unions played a big role in stopping VAM. It kind of makes you wish that the peo- ple elected to represent stu- dents had asked similar ques- tions before imposing high- stakes testing on our schools. If they're inclined to start ask- ing questions, here's one: If teachers only account for 1 to 14 percent of the change in test scores, then what does the other 86 percent measure? And if we don't know what it means, why are we holding schools, students, and teach- ers accountable to it? JasonStanfordisaregu- lar contributor to the Austin American-Statesman, a Dem- ocratic consultant and a Tru- man National Security Proj- ect partner. You can email him at stanford@oppresearch.com and follow him on Twitter @ JasStanford. JasonStanford A lousy way to hold schools accountable Cartoonist's take Returning to the (rel- ative) flat lands of Bend had the major benefit of restoring Internet ser- vice, complete with hun- dreds of eminently de- lete-able emails, news and analysis of recent events, and the "epage- flip" version of the Daily News. While skimming weeks of is- sues, "exhibit A" for the State of Jefferson appeared in Friday's edition: "Red Bluff City Council delays boat launch project ap- proval…pending further review of the project's environmental impact. "At its meeting Tuesday, council members were pre- sented with comments from state agencies that recom- mended further explanation of how certain aspects of the proposed project would af- fect air quality, biological and cultural resources, recreation and transportation." Really? Is this what the highest taxes, the largest debt, the most bu- reaucrats, regulators and rules in America gets a little town whose primary economic life- blood now runs unproductively to the sea? They (enviros, agencies and judges) are 100 percent responsible for the fact that a prime boating location— that for decades provided our citizens easy local access to the Sacramento River and our lake—sits high and dry for go- ing on 3 years. It is nothing short of ludi- crous to suggest that a replace- ment boat ramp/launch will have any measurable affect on "air quality." Am I missing something? Let's add it up: The affect on recreation will sim- ply be to return a portion of the recreation taken from Red Bluff by the loss of the lake. The af- fect on transportation will be absolutely irrelevant; fewer cars will use the new launch than when Lake Red Bluff was a summer-long draw. Then there apparently are "biological and cultural re- sources" affected. Exactly how? Is some plant that didn't exist when water covered its little spot of earth going to get displaced? Do we have to ac- count for the possibility that some indeterminate num- ber of fish will get caught that wouldn't without the boat launch? Finally, is some cu- bicle-dwelling bean- counter getting paid to mandate that we ac- count for how some in- decipherable "cultural resources" will be af- fected? To you literary loud- mouths hurling your in- sults and completely made-up fantasies of doom, gloom and devastation that you suggest will accompany severing po- litical and governmental ties to the behemoth of overreach- ing mendacity known as Sac- ramento—this one little is- sue says it all. Either you want the union/Democrat-domi- nated "Emerald City" to issue such ridiculous orders to jump (we get to say, "how high?"), and you want the majority to knuckle under and go along with this nonsense, or admit the Jefferson advocates have a legitimate beef with Califor- nia. By the way, I know all too well that the Army Corps of Engineers holds federal agency approval in non-California hands and would remain a "gate keeper" to this project, the State of Jefferson notwith- standing; however, a conser- vative Republican president could, with orders from the top, mandate less restrictive, less intrusive cooperation with towns like Red Bluff. Campsite or lakeside read- ing can range from FBI thrill- ers by Catherine Coulter, ac- tion/terrorist fair by Brad Thor or Ken Follet—page-turn- ing fiction—to book length political fare not usually in- dulged at home. That genre just doesn't get any better than books by conservative firebrand Ann Coulter. Bend's libraries let you check out "e- books" that remain on your de- vice for listening a set period of time before they expire. Not a bad way to enjoy "reading" while actually watching the beauty of nature. So, while Ann Coulter's "How to Talk to a Liberal (If you must),"—a compilation of her columns from the late '90s to 2005—provided page-turn- ing of its own, it was her "De- monic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America" (2011) that burned its way through my ears. Coulter described "Demonic" to CBS News an- chor Jeff Glor: "… the left's im- age-based arguments, com- bined with their frequent adoption of utterly contradic- tory positions, it turns out, are classic earmarks of mob men- tality. Then, of course, there are the frequent explosions of violence from the left, when mob psychology leads to some- thing more frightening than confusing, and becomes an ac- tual, literal mob." (from Wiki- pedia) I'll take the liberty of shar- ing her publisher's book de- scription: "Democrats have a history that consists of pan- dering to mobs, time and again, while Republicans, heirs to the American Revolution, have regularly stood for peace- able order. Hoping to muddy this horrifying truth, liberals slanderously accuse conserva- tives of their own crimes—as- sassination plots, conspiracy theorizing, political violence, embrace of the Ku Klux Klan. Coulter shows that the truth is the opposite: Political vio- lence—mob violence—is always a Democratic affair." The work of French sociol- ogist and social psychologist Gustave Le Bon informed her tour de force of mobs from the French Revolution—described in gruesome, bloody, body-mu- tilating detail from contem- porary accounts—to Southern lynch mobs, to violent antiwar mobs, to the mobs race-rioting in cities in the '60s, to "Bush-de- ranged" mobs, to the anti-cap- italist mobs that show up and destroy property at economic fo- rums. Her contentions and de- scriptions, published in 2011, were borne out with exclama- tion points as the leftist "Oc- cupy Wall Street" movement de- livered destruction, violence and lawlessness to many cities. The Tea Party protests and the tens of thousands of pro- life demonstrators are not "mobs"; they are simply peace- ably assembling to petition for redress of legitimate griev- ances. Overreaching govern- ment and voracious overtax- ing in the Tea Party's view; the slaughter of millions of inno- cent pre-born children in the pro-life movement's view. Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it Boat ramp gripe; Coulter review They assume, without being sure about the details, that you can use student test scores to measure a teacher's effectiveness, allowing schools to get rid of the dead wood some assume is holding American kids back. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. ThreeCityCouncilseatsopenandonlytwo incumbents are running. Red Bluff is dying under the lack of effective leadership and no one is willing to step up and make a change. Shame on all of you. Don't you care enough to run in a wide open race? Really sad that apathy reigns supreme in our city and county. No wonder we are such a mess. Pat Johnston: On lack of candidates filing for local elected offices for November election Prayers for the entire family. May God be with them. Bonnie Nelson: On man and woman killed in Dairyville, leaving behind six children Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Don Polson Assemblyman Dan Logue, 150 Amber Grove Drive, Ste. 154, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217 Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 YOUR OFFICIALS OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, August 12, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6