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P.S...this is another reason that Powers That Be fight the open ended testing possibilities. Raise the bar indefinitely, and they'll never close the achievement "gap". Raising the bar only proves the impossibility of all children learning at the same rate. And too many aren't willing to accept what to me is all too obvious....some kids just learn faster.
This reminded me of a concept I came across today called "Zone of Proximal Development" by Vygotsky. It was described in a book called Alternative Assessments with Gifted and Talented Students by Joyce L Tassel-Baska.
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The zone of proximal development is that band representing the potential to learn wherein a child can complete a task with the help of an adult or a more advanced peer. To create lessons that are in a student's zone of proximal development, teachers must determine where the student currently stands-that level of understanding that represents the difference between what a student can do independently and what the student can do with guidance. The planning process should incorporate tasks that are just beyond the point where the student can do the task without any assistance and should incorporate learning activities that may require some guidance by an adult or peer in execution so that new learning will occur.
It helped me better define some of my frustration. DD6 spends so little of the school day working in the zone of proximal learning. She also spends very little time even working at the level of what she can do independently. Instead so much of her time is spent working below both the zone of proximal development and her level of independent work. Most of her new learning seems to come from what I can squeeze in afterschooling. frown

At least the MAP testing is more open ended than the state standards testing. It gives me a starting point to understand what DD6 can do independently...when the Powers That Be don't substitute the correct scores with erroneous data showing there's very little difference between the students sick