Sunday, November 14, 2010

Forget Early Release - Testing Schedule

DATE

TEST

GRADE/COURSE

Sept. 1- 30, 2010

FLKRS / FAIR

K-2

Sept. 7-30, 2010 Tentative**

Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR)

3rd – 12th

Sep. 11, 2010

ACT (select sites)

10th-12th

Oct. 9, 2010

SAT I & II (select sites)

10th-12th

Oct. 13, 2010

PSAT (all sites)

9th -11th (ALL 9-10)

Oct. 18-22, 2010

HS FCAT Retake Test

Retained 10th, 11-Adult

Oct. 23, 2010

ACT (select sites)

10th-12th

Nov. 6, 2010

SAT I & II (select sites)

10th-12th

Nov. 16-18, 2010

District Benchmark Exam Writing

11th & 12th (Retakes)

Nov. 30-Dec. 3, 2010

District Benchmark Exam Writing

2nd & 5th

Nov. 30- Dec.3, 2010

Personal Fitness Exam

Select Students

Dec. 3- Jan. 14, 2011 Tentative**

Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR)

K-12th

Dec. 4, 2010

SAT I & II (select sites)

10th-12th

Dec. 7-8, 2010

FCAT Writing Prompt Field Test

Selected Schools (4,8,10)

Dec. 11, 2010

ACT (select sites)

10th-12th

Jan. - Feb. 2011

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

Selected Schools (4,8,12)


Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA)


Jan.11-14, 2011

Semester Exams

9th-12th

Jan. 10- Feb. 25, 2011

Florida Alternate Assessment (ESE)

3rd-11th

Jan. 22, 2011

SAT I & II (select sites)

10th-12th

Feb. 12, 2011

ACT (select sites)

10th-12th

Feb. 22-25, 2011

District Benchmark Exam Writing

2nd

March- TBA

CELLA

K-12 (ELL)

Mar. 1-3, 2011

FCAT Writing Assessment

(4,8,10)

Mar. 7-11, 2011

District Benchmark Exam Writing

11th & 12th (Retakes)

Mar. 8-11, 2011

District Benchmark Exam Writing

5th (Retakes)

Mar. 12, 2011

SAT I & II (select sites)

10th-12th

Mar. 28- Apr. 7, 2011

National NRT Test

1st & 2nd

Mar. 30-Apr. 6, 2011

FCAT Retakes

11th-Adult

Apr. 1-May 27, 2011 Tentative**

Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR)

K-12th

Apr. 9, 2011

ACT (select sites)

10th-12th

Apr. 11-21, 2011

FCAT Reading, Math, Science Assessment

3rd-11th

May 2-13, 2011

AP Exams

10th-12th

May 7, 2011

SAT I & II (select sites)

10th-12th

May 9-13, 2011

Personal Fitness Exam

Select Students

May 9-13, 2011

District Benchmark Exam Writing

12th only -- if needed

May 10-13, 2011

District Benchmark Exam Writing

2nd & 5th (Retakes)

May 16-20, 2011

EOC Algebra

All enrolled students & All 9th G

Week of May 23, 2011

National NRT Test

3rd (Portfolio)

May 24-27, 2011

District Benchmark Exam Writing

2nd & 5th (Retakes) Only—if needed


June 1, 2011

Semester Exams

9th-11th

June 4, 2011

SAT I & II (select sites)

10th-12th

June 11, 2011

ACT (select sites)

10th-12th

July 27-28, 2011

National NRT Test

1st-3rd


Field Tests:

Geometry EOC Select Sites

May 23-27


Biology EOC Select Sites

May 23-27

**Pending final District Instructional Calendar



Anyone care to guesstimate the amount of time taken away from curriculum or out of class for testing?

Thursday, November 4, 2010

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

In case you missed this gem From Larry Cuban- "Hats Off To Larry" - check out the post.


“The Flight of a Butterfly” or “The Flight of a Bullet”: The Impossible Dream of Transforming Teaching into a Science"

The point of all this is to be clear that, yes, some parts of teaching can be improved through scientific studies. Empirical findings time and again have improved teaching from decoding skills in reading to classroom management. But what has been learned from science is not the lion’s share of what constitutes daily teaching. As Philip Jackson said in 1968:

“teaching is an opportunistic process [where] … neither the teacher or [her] students can predict with any certainty exactly what will happen next. Plans are forever going awry and unexpected opportunities …are constantly emerging. The seasoned teacher seizes upon these opportunities and uses them to … his student’s advantage.”

Surprise and uncertainty greet teachers daily even for their best-planned lesson. Experienced teachers know this in their bones and in finessing the unpredictability of classroom life (or flopping) know that few researchers, especially among VAM-obsessed ones–care for such artistry because it cannot be connected to students’ test scores.

Those who still dream of engineering classrooms into rational places where empirically-derived prescriptions help teachers become effective have failed to grasp that daily teaching is a mix of artistry, science and uncertainty.

*Philip Jackson, Life in Classrooms, 1968, pp. 166-167."