Wednesday, April 21, 2004

CTB-Reading Test Might Need to Be Re-administered

My students came in buzzing about a report on NY1 TV last night that students might have to take the CTB-Reading test again. I went to the website for details; the report applied only to the third grade test, which included many items that were identical to last year's test. Nevertheless, it seems likely to me that if the powers that be decide to re-do the test, they will find themselves re-doing tests at many grade levels, with a large number of children, despite Bloomberg's assurances that it affects just a "handful" of students. Even I recognized reading passages on this year's sixth grade test that were also on last year's test, and I have never read either year's test closely! How many articles on bonsai trees can there be?

Administering a test like this a second time is complex. Is another, comparable, field-tested exam available? What will it cost the city (if anything)? How soon can it be ready? How soon can it be scored, and how will a new timetable affect the Bloomberg administration's 3rd grade holdover policy? Will they make only some students repeat the test, or all students? If they only make some students repeat it, how will they determine which students must re-take?

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