High Stakes Testing

There’s been a lot of talk this legislative session about student assessments – specifically high stakes testing.  I continue to be amazed at how some people insist on requiring students to pass such a test in order to graduate from high school.  They claim that the requirement is necessary to make sure that our schools are turning out students that are ready for post-secondary life / school.  I just don’t get it.  These summative assessments, required by NCLB, are of great use in assessing two things: 1) what a student knows at a particular moment in time and 2) the effectiveness at a system of teaching the material on the test.  Notice what these tests don’t measure: how well prepared a student is for the next phase in their life.  Or what kind of person they are.  Or how successful they will be.  Spending all of the money that we do on this sort of testing seems to me to be a colossal waste of staff time and money – two things that our schools are perilously short on right now.

These tests were a waste of time for me when I was in high school.  You could have spoken to any one of my teachers.  Or my coaches.  Or my guidance counselor.  Or my friends’ parents.  Or even to me.  They all would have told you that I was a decent kid who deserved to graduate from high school and was as well prepared as I could be for whatever was going to come next.  I’m not saying this to brag – the vast majority of the people I went to high school with would have fit into that category with me.  Everyone knew the kids that we thought were going to struggle when high school was over.  We didn’t need a test to tell us.  All the test did was waste time we could have spent learning, waste paid, on the clock hours of teachers, and waste the state’s money.

Beyond that, the simple idea of tying an overall evaluation of anything to one moment in time seems crazy.  I’m going to use a sports analogy here because… well because I’m me.  It’s a baseball one too:

Let’s say that you are a scouting director for a major league team.  It is your job to analyze young baseball players and sign the best ones for your team.  In a way, you are deciding who gets to graduate from being a high school or college player to being a pro player.  Using a high stakes test to decide high school graduation is like basing your scouting analysis off of one showcase game.  No, it’s worse than that.  It’s like basing your scouting analysis off of the box score of one showcase game.  Hmm, that kid went 0-4.  We’d better not sign him.  Yikes!  That kid went 5-5!  Sign him now!  See how crazy this sounds?  What the box score won’t tell you is that the kid that went 0-4 hit four line drives that happened to get caught.  He has a great swing.  He’s also 6’2”, has incredible speed, and a cannon for an arm.  It also won’t tell you that he was playing third base when his natural position was left field, making him uncomfortable all game.  He will be a quality professional player.  It won’t tell you that the kid who went 5-5 was 5’3” and can barely run or throw.  Three of his hits were broken bat pop ups that happened to fall in between fielders.  One was a swinging bunt that the catcher tripped trying to field, and the last one should have been ruled an error.  He has absolutely no future in baseball.  If you really wanted to do your job well you wouldn’t rely on the statistics from any single game… or even on statistics at all.  You would send scouts to watch the players… see how they run… see what kind of swings they have… how the carry themselves… how they play the game… even talk with them to see what kind of kids they are.  You would talk to coaches and parents.  After gathering all of this information you would sit down and make some decisions.  I know I made a rather extreme example, but on an all or nothing high stakes graduation test the results are pretty extreme – graduate or not.

Instead of sinking time and money into tests, why don’t we sink time and money into school staff?  Get high quality school staff that can accurately judge whether or not a student deserves to graduate and is prepared for the next step in their life.  And then why don’t we trust them?  People who actually interact with the student can judge that far better than a test with an arbitrary graduation cut off test score set by someone sitting in a cube in the Department of Education.  Why are we willing to settle for such one dimensional measures in our education system when we NEVER would in ANY other area of our life.  For hiring someone for a job, for buying a car, for asking someone out, for making friends, for choosing colleges… we always go beyond simple numbers and try to get a feel for someone or something before committing to it.  Why do we settle for so much less when it comes to our K-12 students?

The… Netherlands???

This is incredible.  Incomprehensible.  It’s still early and I’m having trouble coming up with words to describe just how miraculous the Netherlands TWO victories over the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic are.  I think I’d struggle no matter what time it was.  So let’s go to the numbers.  The DR has 23 current major leaguers.  The Netherlands has 2.  The DR has 4 current all stars.  The Netherlands has 0.  The DR pitchers have 518 major league victories.  The Netherlands’ pitchers have 95 (and 90 belong to one player).  Finally, if you were to pay the salary for the entire DR team last year you would be out about $83 million.  The Dutch team would cost you $400,000.  The DR team is more than 200 times as expensive.  Say all you want about it being spring training and players not being in top shape yet, this will go down as one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports.  I bet a lot of people didn’t even know they played baseball in the Netherlands.  These games have been simply amazing.

The Amazing Race: And With That, Romance Was Dead…

**WARNING: Spoilerrrrrrrrr Alert!!!***

I cannot even begin to describe how upset I was last night as I watched the latest installment of the Amazing Race Does Russia.  Amanda and Kris, over the course of the hour, became my favorite team from this year’s race.  Hands down.  I just love ’em.  Earlier I wrote that their weakness could be facing adversity and the fact they might turn on each other.  I think they passed that test with flying colors last night.  Now, it’s easy to be ok with things going poorly when you know you’re philiminated anyway (every time a team knows it’s eliminated, because it is a day behind everyone else, the members always get reflective and sentimental), but I think they handled the setback on the detour quite well.

Also, with their philimination, there is no more romance on the show.  The two married couples and the two dating couples have been the first four teams kicked off the show.  That sucks.

Also, major dick move by Margie and Luke with the U-Turn.  It’s one thing to play the U-Turn if you know the team is gonna be close to you – that passes as playing the game.  U-Turning someone who you KNEW was literally hours behind you is not ok.  They lost major Mess Points last night.

Messinger Profile: The Current Generation

This is a picture (from left to right) of me, my dad, and my brother after a week or so of camping on the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  And of course we are joined by our puppy, Maggie.  Haha, the future doesn’t look too bright for the Messinger clan does it?

I Miss My Puppy!

I called my pops today like I do pretty often, just to check in and talk, and he said that he was about to leave to bring our puppy, Maggie, to the vet.  She’s had a lot of health problems in the past, so her going to the vet is fairly common, but then my pops said that she fell today and hurt her front leg pretty bad.  He said she might need surgery.  My poor puppy!  I wish I could be there for her like the rest of my family.  Here’s to hoping her injury isn’t that bad.

New Amazing Race!!!

My life is finally moving toward being complete again as the Amazing Race returned to CBS Sunday night.  Here are my initial quick hit thoughts on the teams:

Christie and Jodie:  Came within a couple of seconds of being Philiminated, not because of missed clues or struggling with tasks, but because of travel errors.  I expected flight attendants to at least be able to do that.  Potential weakness: Non-aircraft travel (until proven otherwise).

Tammy and Victor:  These guys are this season’s young sibling power couple who have good heads on their shoulders and are driven to succeed.  They are this season’s Nick and Starr, and should find themselves in the top three when all is said and done.  Already playing mind games with other teams.  Potential weakness: Victor’s big brotherness.  He seemed to get on Tammy’s case a bit… could be a problem if times ever get tough.

Steve and Linda:  I thought they would be the first team out, since Linda is utterly unable to do anything physical, and Steve seems intent on making her feel terrible for it.  Steve did well to get past the cheese, but they got lost trying to find the yodelers.  (Not so) Potential weakness(es): Lack of ability to move quickly, lack of composure, lack of travel / world experience, etc., etc., etc.  Will probably be Philiminated soon.

Kisha and Jen:  Pretty much cruised through in the middle of the pack.  Haven’t really gotten a feel for them.  Potential weakness:  Averageness – finished ahead of only the hicks and the flight attendants – and who couldn’t.

Brad and Victoria:  This is the token older couple, but this season the older couple is jacked – they work out all day together.  Will they be able to combine the wisdom of their years with the physical strength other old teams have lacked?  I think they might.  Potential weakness: Already playing mind games in the first episode.  The older teams usually rely on some sort of alliance at some point during the race – so you don’t want to burn bridges.

Mel and Mike:  Instead of a token gay couple we get a token gay family!  Mike had a great quote about not letting his dad down by being gay because his dad already beat him to it.  I’m feeling that I could get to like these guys.  Potential weakness: Physical challenges.  I know they do Yoga and seem fit, but Mel complained about a tweaked groin muscle on the hill, and had to slide down on his bum.  Injuries are magnified given the short time frame of the race.

Amanda and Kris:  The lovey dovey couple!  Hate on love all you want, but I am unashamed in saying that I think it is really cute.  Once again, I didn’t really get a feel for them.  They finished a solid 5th.  Potential weakness:  Conflict.  What happens when times get tough?  What if one of them stops with the lovey dovey under the pressure?

Mark and Michael: What isn’t there to love about these guys?  They’re stuntmen.  They’re short.  They’re full of energy.  They seem happy.  They’re brothers (I love when brothers get along well enough to do something like this).  They seem to have a nice blend of physical strength and mental capacity.  I think they have a real shot at winning this thing.  Potential weakness:  a task or roadblock that requires you to be… well… normal height.

Jaime and Cara:  Another relatively anonymous team to me.  That’s the best they could dig up among ex-NFL cheerleaders?  Seriously, folks.  Come on.  (Potential?) weakness: they are cheerleaders.

Preston and Jennifer:  He likes to win.  He is competitive.  He made her cry.  She says she learned a lot about him and wants to love ahead with their relationship.  Polly marveled at the fact that she realized that over the course of just two days on the race and one hour on TV.  I think I have to agree.  Potential weakness:  Already Philiminated.

Margie and Luke:  Clearly my favorite team after the first episode.  They are uber cute, and it is an amazing story.  Dominated the first episode and decisively won the first leg.  I’m rooting for these guys to win, and if their performance yesterday was any indication of the future, they just might.  Potential weakness: Communication.  A couple of times Luke seemed to leave his mom behind, leaving her to wonder what he was up to.

This is the 14th Amazing Race.  The team that has ended up winning the race has finished in the following position in the first leg (from most recent to oldest): First, Third, Fourth, First, Second, Ninth, Eigth, Fourth, Eigth, Ninth, Second, Sixth, First.  That is an average finish in the first leg of fourth or fifth.  Notice that in recent years it has become even more important to finish near the top in the first leg.  This is not good news for the teams at the bottom right now.  The cream tends to rise to the top pretty quickly on the race, and barring some miraculous Andrew and Dan miracle the best teams usually advance.

Family Record: Baptism of Stephanus Szymaszek

This is a picture of the baptism record of Stephanus Szymaszek.  It comes from the church books in the Roman Catholic parish in Straszecin, Poland.  Stephanus was born in 1800.  His father, Thomas Szymaszek, is listed just to the right of Stephanus.  The record, including the names, is written in Latin.

Family Record: Joseph Szymaszek Ship Manifest

This is a picture of the ship manifest from the SS Bohemia in 1888, showing my ancestor Joseph Szymaszek when he arrived in the United States after emigrating from Poland.  His name is at the bottom of the page.  The “31” indicated his age.

Family Record: The Will of Michael Messinger

Another way that I am going to share what I have uncovered during my family history research is to post pictures of some of the original records that I’ve found.

This is a picture of the will of my ancestor Michael Messinger (Mössinger). 

The signature in the picture is Michael’s actual signature.  Note that the double “s” was written like a cursive “f” in those days.  The will was proved in 1791 when Michael died at age 71.

A-Rod: My Thoughts After Sleeping on it All

After sleeping on the whole A-Rod thing and his interview I have a few random thoughts to throw out there.

I agree with everyone on ESPN, ESPN Radio, and every other sports related anything that there is NOTHING that surprises me anymore when it comes to steroids (or whatever you want to call it) and baseball.  Despite not being surprised by anything, disappointment and anger still swell within me when news like this comes out.  That’s how I feel.  Angry and disappointed.  Not shocked or surprised.  I still don’t know how I feel about the statistics from this era.  Thankfully I have a lifetime to figure that out.

As I was listening to Tirico and Van Pelt yesterday someone commented on the fact that we want our athletes to be super-human, then get mad at them when they take steroids to be just that.  As an athlete and a rather hardcore fan of sports, especially baseball, I have to disagree 100% with this statement.  I do want my athletes to be superhuman, but I want them to do it because of their natural ability and work ethic, not because they are on steroids.  I do not want every Joe Shmoe on the street to be a great athlete.  I want great athletes to be unique… to come around once in a generation… not to be constantly pumped out of drug labs.

The other thing that strikes me is the absurd hubris that must drive someone like A-Rod to use these substances.  Here’s a generic version of what I think must have gone through his head:

I am the best at what I do for a living in the world right now.  Nobody does my job any better than me.  There are 6 billion people on earth and not one single person does this any better than me.  What’s more, I am probably the best EVER at my job.  In the entire course of recorded human history, not a single person has ever done this as well as I do.  But I want to be even better and set the bar so high that no one will ever reach me.  So I guess I’ll take illegal drugs to improve my performance.

That someone can sit down and think that is unfathomable to me.  I was watching Troy yesterday on FX and I can’t help but compare these athletes to the Achilles character in that movie.  I don’t get it.

I’m also not sure how much of what he said last night we can really believe.  I’m a trusting person, so I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, but a year and a half ago he did another TV interview and categorically denied ever using or being tempted to use performance enhancing drugs.  So he’s already been proved a liar.  I guess time will tell how much of what he said is really true.

I’m not sure who is responsible for the leak of only A-Rod’s name, but I really want to know the other 103 names on that list.  Those players who have never used steroids need their names to be cleared of all suspicion.

I will give A-Rod credit for coming out and admitting his use.  It takes guts to admit that you lied to the world.  You have to respect someone for that.  Now maybe we can have a legitimate conversation about steroids and how we can get them out of the game for good.  Until a star was willing to stand up and publicly admit his use and open that dialogue it was never going to happen.  If A-Rod can be the catalyst for that he might just redeem himself in my eyes.