State To Provide Parents, Schools With Data on Student Problems

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The New York Sun

ALBANY — What is your child’s most difficult task in each subject at school? And what lesson from your child’s teacher isn’t working for the whole class?

The state Education Department said yesterday that a new $12 million system will identify problems and detail for schools and parents how to improve teaching and learning.

Beginning this fall, schools will start receiving detailed test results in an electronic form that will allow them to identify ineffective teaching in specific classrooms and whether the whole class or specific groups are affected. The data breaks down scores by individuals, gender, English proficiency, economic status, ethnicity and more.

The analysis can pinpoint specific lessons that can be improved by changing the teaching method or providing more training for the teacher.

Parents will be able to see specific areas — such as math facts — that need extra attention at home or warrant a talk with the teacher.

A Web site will allow additional comparisons to identify problems, said state Education Commissioner Richard Mills. Through it all, the software will protect the identities of individual students, he said.

Although printed reports of test score data have been collected and analyzed for years, the new system provides the information electronically so it can be more easily tailored to a school’s needs.

“The system is an integral part of the Regents strategy to close the gaps and lift the achievement of all students,” Mr. Mills said.

Data on students in grades three through eight will be the first analyzed through the system.

The system will produce three reports: Individual Student Reports that explain a student’s performance to parents, guardians and teachers; summary reports providing school or BOCES performance in standardized tests; and “interactive reports” that allow teachers and administrators to analyze test performance while factoring in gender, race and social conditions.

More than 100 teachers in the state helped create the system. The state Education Department said most of the cost will be paid by the federal government.


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