Laying goose eggs
2 many 0’s on city kids’ state exams
An alarming number of city students have scored three or more “zeroes” for their writing answers on the statewide English exams, a new study reveals.
On the English Language Arts exams between 2013 and 2016, in addition to multiple-choice questions, students had to read nine or 10 short stories or texts, then write responses showing their ability to think critically and cite evidence to support their answers.
A score of zero (out of 2 to 4 possible points) means a student wrote something “totally inaccurate,” “unintelligible,” or “indecipherable.”
“Kids were stupefied by these questions,” Fred Smith, a former test analyst for the city Department of Education, told The Post.
Smith and Robin Jacobowitz, director of educational projects at the Benjamin Center, a SUNY New Paltz research unit, were forced to use the Freedom of Information Law to obtain the data for their report, “Tests are Turning our Children into Zeroes: A Focus on Failing.”
Of about 78,000 city third-graders, they found the number who scored zeroes on three or more written answers doubled from 10,696 (14 percent) in 2012 to 21,464 (28 percent) in 2013, when the state tests were overhauled to fit tougher Common Core standards.
But over the next three years, the city third-graders — who were taught nothing but Common Core since kindergarten — still racked up zeroes at the same high rate.
The number of kids with three orr more zeroes was still 28 perper- cent in 2014, 29 percent in 2015, and 27 percent in 2016, the last year data were available.
That year, the state dropped time limits, to little effect.
“We can’t say this is just kids getting used to the Common Core. This is all they’ve ever known,” Jacobowitz said. “It did not get betterter over time.time.”
In one 2014 test question, thirdgraders had to read a three-page story called “Science Friction,” in which kids meet in a bedroom to do a science project on moldy bread. The passage includes the words “inhibition,” “acidic,” “captions,” and “spore.”
One question asked; “Why is the setting of the story important? Use two details from the story to support your response.” Students could earn 1 to 2 points, even with spelling or grammatical errors.
In one zero-point answer, the student wrote: “It is importent because if you were wondering were they were. And you could be gussing.”
Teachers and parents throughout New York state have complained the tests were ill-suited to a child’s age and development: “The result was 8- and 9-year-olds sitting for hours upon hours in frustration, crying and in some cases becoming physically sick,” said Carl Korn, a state teachersunion spokesman.
State officials denied the 2013-16 exams — which cost $32 million under testing vendor Pearson — were poorly designed.
“In general, zeroes would not imply a flaw in the test; rather, it would demonstrate students struggled to master the content being assessed,” a spokesperson said.