BOARD MIXED ON PROMOTION PLAN.Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer A plan to use standardized standardized pertaining to data that have been submitted to standardization procedures. standardized morbidity rate see morbidity rate. standardized mortality rate see mortality rate. reading scores to determine whether second- and eighth-graders should be promoted to the next grade was introduced to the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Unified school board Tuesday. Board members had mixed reactions to the plan from member David Tokofsky, who is pushing the district to end social promotion - the practice of promoting failing students. Board member Julie Korenstein said she doesn't think using test results is the right approach to improving student achievement. Instead, she favors the district's current plans to use standardized testing A standardized test is a test administered and scored in a standard manner. The tests are designed in such a way that the "questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent" [1] every six weeks to constantly evaluate students, and provide struggling students with immediate assistance. ``We keep trying to reinvent the wheel (jargon) reinvent the wheel - To design or implement a tool equivalent to an existing one or part of one, with the implication that doing so is silly or a waste of time. This is often a valid criticism. and I don't quite understand why,'' Korenstein said. Under Tokofsky's plan, students who fall in the bottom 5 percentile percentile, n the number in a frequency distribution below which a certain percentage of fees will fall. E.g., the ninetieth percentile is the number that divides the distribution of fees into the lower 90% and the upper 10%, or that fee level on the reading portion of the Stanford 9 Achievement Test would be held back. The proposed standards also would affect eighth-graders who have scored below the 10th percentile for three straight years. Currently, standardized test scores are not used as a basis for promotion. Board member Caprice ca·price n. 1. a. An impulsive change of mind. b. An inclination to change one's mind impulsively. c. Young said addressing the bottom 5 percentile is a very limited student population and already one that has an obvious need for help. ``David's only talking about a tiny number of people and those are the obvious kids,'' Young said. Tokofsky's motion was referred to the Curriculum and Instruction Committee. |
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