SK>Hi Paul,
 
SK>Nice to see you here again. Have you been on vacation?
 
        I was down in Seattle finishing my Masters'.  I learned a lot
about Statistics.  It really takes the B.S. (not Bachelors' of
Science ) out of folks who think they know what is right.
To give you an example: In our school, teachers believe that
behavior problem students cause test scores in math computation
to be lower than the desired outcome. Administrators at our
central office believe that spending money on special education
is a waste.
 
        What I was looking for is a confounding interactive variable
that would impact math scores.  What I measured on my projects
was the rate of learning in math computation - that is
improvement between standardize scores of the fourth and sixth
grade - of students who received special services for chronic
behavior problems and those who received remedial help. ( There
were six other areas tested like children of broken homes,
gifted, number of siblings, gender, minority status, socioeconomic
status - these all produced no statistical significance.)
 
        The teachers were somewhat right.  Behavior problem students
don't learn as fast as there counterparts.  However, removing those
students from the testing pool would not improve the scores enough to
set the results at the desired level.  The administrators at Central
Office were dead wrong.  Remedial students learn just as fast as their
counterparts in math computation abilities.
 
SK>I am interested to hear more from Dale Hill later on about he report he
SK>ordered from this conference and what it contains.
 
SK>Slogans are not very useful, I agree.
 
        After my revelation of this summer, I'm real suspect of feel
good actions like these.  Has anyone done a study on standards?  I'm
sure that somewhere someone has produced a higher standard qualification
requirment.  Have teachers and students successfully achieved those
standards?  Before I reform, I want to know that the method which I am
switching to will be more successful - unless it is part of an
experiment.
 
 
Good to hear from you Shelia.
 
Keep your stick on the Ice,
Paul
 
 * SLMR 2.1a * Hello, I am part number ****************
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