[Culturechat] Educational Testing

[Sara Farmer]

I am a school psychologist in rural Appalachian Tennessee.  I do not think 
home school students are included in the testing sample.  We read of the 
home school students going to Harvard.  Most of the home schooled students I 
test are returning to public school because parents gave up and have 
regressed several years.  In Tennessee you can home school by enrolling in a 
religious correspondence school and not have completed high school your 
self.

Elementary students in Tennessee often have several hours of home work on 
the TCAP (achievement test) areas.  It is primary drill with little 
requirement for creative or original thinking.

The No Child Left Behind Law requires half of the students with retardation 
take the regular achievement test.  I bet that doesn't happen elsewhere and 
I had one student with a fairly severe disability included in the 
International test sample.  The design of the law appears to make public 
schools look bad.  I can get very upset with the schools I work in, however, 
they serve a very, very diverse population and are educating kids whose 
parents and grandparents quit before 8th grade.  I love seeing these kids 
learn to read.  I've been here 35 year5s and am working with the third 
generation.  If I messes up before i at least am getting a chance to apply 
new research, especially on teaching reading.