Column on test scores is misleading and unsubstantiated
Re: “Fairfax public schools officials cheat on test scores,” Sept. 22
Barbara Hollingsworth’s article on Fairfax County Public Schools’ test scores was misleading and inaccurate. Her claim that FCPS achievement gains are the result of using Virginia Grade Level Assessments rather than the Standards of Learning tests for students in the earliest stages of learning English and those with disabilities is incorrect. Of the 402,993 SOLs given in 2009, only 9,440 (2.3 percent) were VGLA assessments; 86 percent of our Limited English Proficiency students and 85 percent of our students with disabilities take the regular SOLs. The VGLA was approved in 2007 by both the U.S. and Virginia departments of education as an appropriate assessment for these students.
The Examiner also misrepresents the results of the Virginia Commonwealth University study regarding VGLA and SOL comparisons. The authors’ conclusion stated that, “Overall, the preponderance of evidence from this review indicates substantive alignment, in terms of both the content [range of knowledge] and cognitive processes [depth of knowledge] required.” The VGLA is simply a different way to assess students’ knowledge and skills. There are more students taking the VGLA because it went from a pilot phase to full implementation in 2008. A review of pass rates shows that since 2007, there has been a steady increase every year for our students overall and for every subgroup, not just those taking the VGLA. A signed affidavit must accompany each VGLA binder stating that the work is the student’s alone and that the teacher did not fabricate, alter, or modify work samples, products, or data, or provide any accommodation/assistive device that is not a regular part of the student’s daily instruction. Finally, the Virginia DOE conducts an audit of VGLA every year, which confirmed that its results were reliable. I wish we had been given the courtesy to respond before these unsubstantiated claims were published. I am proud of the gains our students have made and confident in the integrity of the teachers scoring these tests.
Jack Dale
Superintendent,
Fairfax County Public Schools
Examiner covers both sides of the issues
Re: “News takes a back seat to political propaganda,” from readers Sept. 23
I would like to add my perspective to Martin J Crane’s comment concerning
The Examiner‘s “political perspective.” I was a Washington Post subscriber for 20 years. The Post had become so imbued with a “political perspective” from the middle of the Clinton presidency onward that after I read my first edition of
The Examiner two years ago, I canceled my daily Post subscription. I still get the Post on Sunday for the inserts and to see if the situation has changed, but it has not. Sorry, Martin Crane, but I believe in getting a full spectrum of news, which
The Examiner unequivocally provides.
Bill Johnson
Annandale
Liberals overplay race card one too many times
R
e: “Carter: Still playing politics of division,” Sept. 23
Today’s liberal media find racism where there isn’t, and ignore racism where it exists. I attended the huge D.C. Tea Party protest on Sept. 12, and did not see one racist sign or hear one racist sentiment. On the Blue Line train from Springfield, people spontaneously chanted “USA! USA!” and sang the subversive “God Bless America.” Dangerous stuff. However, 14 years ago, when the Million Man March brought the racist, anti-white lunatic Louis Farrakhan to town, no one in the media dared bring up the “R” word. For 50 years, liberals have used race as a battering ram to stifle opposition to their left-wing agenda. After playing all the race cards in their deck, they’re now left with jokers like Jimmy Carter.
Joe Catechissimo
Stafford, Va.
