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“The bigger they are, the harder they fall…”

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall…”. What do you think about standardized tests in school? CSAP (now TCAP), ACT, SAT?. Meet Dr. Beverly Hall. Dr. Beverly Hall. Born in Jamaica Graduated from Fordham University’s doctoral program 65 years old

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“The bigger they are, the harder they fall…”

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  1. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall…” What do you think about standardized tests in school? CSAP (now TCAP), ACT, SAT?

  2. Meet Dr. Beverly Hall

  3. Dr. Beverly Hall • Born in Jamaica • Graduated from Fordham University’s doctoral program • 65 years old • 40 years experience working in urban school districts: New York, Newark and Atlanta • Superintendent of Atlanta, Georgia public schools from 1999 to June, 2011)

  4. Atlanta, Georgia

  5. Accomplishments • Graduation rates increased from 39% to 66% • 77 schools in the district of 50,000 children were rebuilt or renovated • Scholarship money for students increased from $9 million to $129 ($50 million from Bill Gates and the GE Foundation) • She set high expectations for kids in a district where many families are disadvantaged and society had low expectations

  6. Award Winner

  7. Problem: Testing Scandal

  8. Biggest standardized test scandal in U.S. history • 178 teachers (out of 3,000 in the district) are accused of cheating on Georgia’s version of CSAP • Sometimes they gave the kids the correct answers • Sometimes they erased wrong answers and bubbled in the right ones • Hall is now under investigation • 800-page report says “pattern of cheating” in 44 schools

  9. Vocabulary Word • Pariah = someone that is despised or rejected; an outcast • “It is not easy being the pariah of a major American city.”

  10. She says… • She created a culture of high achievement, not cheating • 178 bad teachers shouldn’t reflect badly on the 3,000 total teachers in the district (most of whom don’t cheat) • She didn’t know the teachers were cheating

  11. They say… • She was more interested in being loved than student achievement • She put pressure on teachers to have high test scores • Teachers were given bonuses for having high test scores • She didn’t investigate the problem, even when it was brought to her attention in 2005

  12. Connection to History • Why do kids in inner city (urban) schools do so much more poorly than kids in suburban schools?

  13. Question(s) • Do we put too much pressure on our students (and teachers) to perform on tests? • Should there be different standards for kids that come from disadvantaged families?

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