Connecticut to hire statewide reading instructor

According to Boston.com, "The Department of Education may soon be adding a new administrator to address concerns about sliding test scores among fourth-graders in public schools." It seems the state legislature authorized a $150,000 per year salary to hire an administrator at the state board of education in order to reverse sliding test scores.

Do politicians consider the following possibilities as they seek to solve each and every perceived problem in education?

1. Based on elementary statistics, it is impossible to raise test scores on normed referenced tests. Since all scores reported represent variance from the mean, or central, score, and that score is the arithmetical average of all scores, if the curve skews in a negative direction the instrument must be re-normed in order for the results to fall within a normal and unskewed bell curve.
   

2. Might there be a testing effect that causes scores to appear to be falling? By over-testing students in high-stakes conditions the unintended consequence just might be that students simply stop trying, especially if they are in groups that, for whatever reason, tend to fall below the mean. The tests simply magnify apparent failure rather than provide a tool to motivate students to do better.

3. Might the money spent on an administrator to oversee the state reading coaches be better used to buy books for kids to read? I know this sounds like a radical solution to what many see as a serious problem, but perhaps it is worth a try.

What do you think?

Connecticut to hire statewide reading instructor - Boston.com:

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