DC: Stanford 9 Study Guide Includes Several Errors

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41076-2002Apr12.html

District Still Needs Help With Homework:
Stanford 9 Study Guide Includes Several Errors

By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 13, 2002; Page B01

Question: Which of the following answers were included in a District school
system homework booklet to prepare students for standardized testing?

A) learning to rind a bicycle

B) Pur the ginger ale into the glasses

C) it should be called the President' House

Correct answer: all of the above.

The 20-page booklet includes those and other spelling and grammatical errors,
an image of a clock with the hour hand in the wrong place and a reading
comprehension section based on questionable historical information.

After administrators sent theStanford 9 standardized test practice work to
more than 100 elementary schools, the school system's chief academic officer,
Mary H. Gill, read the material and late last month instructed principals to
recall the booklets. But at some schools, the homework was distributed before
the recall order went out.

Top school officials learned about the incident only after a reporter's
inquiries.

"It's just intolerable, and it's inexcusable," Superintendent Paul L. Vance
said yesterday. "It's a bad educational experience which we have provided our
children."

School board members were furious.

"No one associated with it in any way should be in the D.C. public school
system," school board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz said. "It's not just
embarrassing, but it's substantively damaging."

Vance said Gill yesterday placed Duvon Winborne, who heads the department
that released the homework activities, on administrative leave with pay
pending the results of an investigation.

Gill said she has asked those responsible to write explanations of how the
mistakes occurred. She said she did not review the material before it was
distributed.

In an interview before he was placed on leave, Winborne said his office was
responsible for the "typos" and that the curriculum department was
responsible for any substantive mistakes.

He said that the content of the materials is the same as last year and that
he ordered the materials retyped because the images and lettering were
"fuzzy." The errors occurred when it was redone, he said. "We did check, and
we missed a few things," said Winborne, executive director of educational
accountability. "It's a mistake, human error."

Winborne said that the mistakes would not hurt students' test scores and that
there are many other practice materials students use to prepare.

He said the homework assignments were given out just before last week's
spring vacation to keep children's minds focused in preparation for testing
that begins Monday.

"Most of the children throw these things away, so it's not really a major
problem in terms of outcomes," he said.

The botched booklet is not the first time the school system has been
bedeviled by mistakes. Last year, it posted signs on the sides of Metro buses
that read: "DC Public Schools Wants You!!! Go To Class -- It' a Blast!!!"
After the signs had rolled through the city's streets, Vance lectured his
staff on the importance of using computer spell-checkers and proper grammar.

The message apparently has not sunk in, officials said. Vance said he will
discipline those who make such errors. "I'm past the point of being angry and
enraged," he said. "I'm just all about consequences now."

The homework booklets, for grades 1 through 3, contain several types of
errors. There's a run-on sentence in the reading comprehension section:
"Martin frowned, he wanted to do things his own way." There are missing
quotation marks, a word that is capitalized in one place but not in another
and confusing or incorrect instructions.

A reading comprehension section about explorer Leif Ericson uses a capital
letter in the middle of a sentence: "Leif was Lost." It also improperly says
he was a sailor, according to Birgitta L. Wallace, who has studied Ericson
and wrote a passage about him for Encyclopedia Americana.

She also said the version of history provided by the booklet -- that Ericson
was lost when he landed in North America -- is not the one generally accepted
by scholars. The commonly accepted account is that he intentionally traveled
to the continent, she said.

forwarded by

Dr. David Feeney
[email protected]
Director of Digital Education, http://foxonline.temple.edu
FOX School of Business & Management, http://sbm.temple.edu
Temple University, http://www.temple.edu
300 Speakman Hall
215-204-2727 office
215-204-5698 fax

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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41076-2002Apr12.html<BR>
<BR>
District Still Needs Help With Homework:    <BR>
Stanford 9 Study Guide Includes Several Errors <BR>
<BR>
By Justin Blum<BR>
Washington Post Staff Writer<BR>
Saturday, April 13, 2002; Page B01 <BR>
<BR>
Question: Which of the following answers were included in a District school system homework booklet to prepare students for standardized testing?<BR>
<BR>
A) learning to rind a bicycle <BR>
<BR>
B) Pur the ginger ale into the glasses <BR>
<BR>
C) it should be called the President' House <BR>
<BR>
Correct answer: all of the above.<BR>
<BR>
The 20-page booklet includes those and other spelling and grammatical errors, an image of a clock with the hour hand in the wrong place and a reading comprehension section based on questionable historical information.<BR>
<BR>
After administrators sent theStanford 9 standardized test practice work to more than 100 elementary schools, the school system's chief academic officer, Mary H. Gill, read the material and late last month instructed principals to recall the booklets. But at some schools, the homework was distributed before the recall order went out.<BR>
<BR>
Top school officials learned about the incident only after a reporter's inquiries.<BR>
<BR>
"It's just intolerable, and it's inexcusable," Superintendent Paul L. Vance said yesterday. "It's a bad educational experience which we have provided our children."<BR>
<BR>
School board members were furious.<BR>
<BR>
"No one associated with it in any way should be in the D.C. public school system," school board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz said. "It's not just embarrassing, but it's substantively damaging."<BR>
<BR>
Vance said Gill yesterday placed Duvon Winborne, who heads the department that released the homework activities, on administrative leave with pay pending the results of an investigation. <BR>
<BR>
Gill said she has asked those responsible to write explanations of how the mistakes occurred. She said she did not review the material before it was distributed.<BR>
<BR>
In an interview before he was placed on leave, Winborne said his office was responsible for the "typos" and that the curriculum department was responsible for any substantive mistakes.<BR>
<BR>
He said that the content of the materials is the same as last year and that he ordered the materials retyped because the images and lettering were "fuzzy." The errors occurred when it was redone, he said. "We did check, and we missed a few things," said Winborne, executive director of educational accountability. "It's a mistake, human error."<BR>
<BR>
Winborne said that the mistakes would not hurt students' test scores and that there are many other practice materials students use to prepare. <BR>
<BR>
He said the homework assignments were given out just before last week's spring vacation to keep children's minds focused in preparation for testing that begins Monday.<BR>
<BR>
"Most of the children throw these things away, so it's not really a major problem in terms of outcomes," he said.<BR>
<BR>
The botched booklet is not the first time the school system has been bedeviled by mistakes. Last year, it posted signs on the sides of Metro buses that read: "DC Public Schools Wants You!!! Go To Class -- It' a Blast!!!" After the signs had rolled through the city's streets, Vance lectured his staff on the importance of using computer spell-checkers and proper grammar.<BR>
<BR>
The message apparently has not sunk in, officials said. Vance said he will discipline those who make such errors. "I'm past the point of being angry and enraged," he said. "I'm just all about consequences now."<BR>
<BR>
The homework booklets, for grades 1 through 3, contain several types of errors. There's a run-on sentence in the reading comprehension section: "Martin frowned, he wanted to do things his own way." There are missing quotation marks, a word that is capitalized in one place but not in another and confusing or incorrect instructions.<BR>
<BR>
A reading comprehension section about explorer Leif Ericson uses a capital letter in the middle of a sentence: "Leif was Lost." It also improperly says he was a sailor, according to Birgitta L. Wallace, who has studied Ericson and wrote a passage about him for Encyclopedia Americana.<BR>
<BR>
She also said the version of history provided by the booklet -- that Ericson was lost when he landed in North America -- is not the one generally accepted by scholars. The commonly accepted account is that he intentionally traveled to the continent, she said.<BR>
<BR>
forwarded by<BR>
<BR>
Dr. David Feeney<BR>
[email protected]<BR>
Director of Digital Education, http://foxonline.temple.edu<BR>
FOX School of Business &amp; Management, http://sbm.temple.edu<BR>
Temple University, http://www.temple.edu<BR>
300 Speakman Hall<BR>
215-204-2727 office<BR>
215-204-5698 fax</FONT></HTML>

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