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	<title>Valiant, Etc.</title>
	<link>http://valetc.com</link>
	<description>News and resources for thoughtful educators</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:56:02 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>BACK TO THE REAL BASICS  by MARION BRADY</title>
		<description><![CDATA[“Standards!” “Accountability!” “Raise the bar!” “Rigor!” “No excuses!” 
The slogans and catchwords of would-be school reformers are exploited by politicians, broadcast by radio talk-show hosts, plastered on car bumpers, underlined by newspaper editorialists, elaborated in the popular press, and taken seriously by much of the general public. 
They’re also favorite themes of those leaders of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://valetc.com/2007/11/25/back-to-the-real-basics-by-marion-brady/</link>
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		<title>PLANNING A TRIP TO THE FUTURE?  Get a Good Map</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Suppose you are in St. Louis, Missouri and you are planning a trip to Vancouver, Washington. Only two maps are available, the one given Lewis and Clark at the start of their journey, or a U.S. highway map from Walmart. Which map would you choose?
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		<link>http://valetc.com/2007/03/08/planning-a-trip-to-the-future-get-a-good-map/</link>
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		<title>THE CABINETMAKER</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Let&#8217;s say I am a cabinetmaker specializing in high quality, world-class furniture. I want to be sure my work stacks up against the competition so I get out my trusty hammer, which is about a foot long, to measure the dimensions of my new cabinet. I drop the hammer on the surface of my labor [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://valetc.com/2007/01/24/the-cabinetmaker/</link>
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		<title>TIPS ON WRITING A &#8220;WASL&#8221; LETTER TO THE EDITOR</title>
		<description><![CDATA[One way to get the attention of the public regarding our concerns about the WASL is to write letters to the editors of local papers. An occasional letter doesn&#8217;t count for much, but a concentrated effort around the State will influence not just the public but the legislature as well. This technique is being widely [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://valetc.com/2007/01/08/tips-on-writing-a-wasl-letter-to-the-editor/</link>
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		<title>OFF-GRADE TESTING</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The use of the WASL at grades 3, 5, 6, and 8 is completely inappropriate. The test is instructionally insensitive with only a few items sampling a broad range of EALRS. Because there are so many extended answer items, the total number of questions on any given topic does not provide sufficient coverage to fully [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://valetc.com/2006/11/30/off-grade-testing/</link>
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		<title>A COMMON MISCONCEPTION?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;The WASL concept of subject matter testing as a basis for earning a comprehensive high school diploma seems intuitively obvious.&#8221;
It may seem obvious, but the people who design such tests and the experts who interpret their results suggest that they absolutely should not be used for such purposes.
For example, the WASL Technical Report, produced by [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://valetc.com/2006/11/25/a-common-misconception/</link>
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		<title>MORE HIGH-STAKES MYTHBUSTERS</title>
		<description><![CDATA[THE FOLLOWING WAS PRINTED AS AN OP-ED ESSAY IN THE TRI-CITY HERALD ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2006.
MYTH 1: Since introduction of the WASL and similar high-stakes tests in other states in the mid-1990s pressure of the tests has led to significant improvement in student achievement.
What do investigators report?
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		<link>http://valetc.com/2006/10/31/more-mythbusters/</link>
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		<title>THINGS THAT BOTHER ME ABOUT THE WASL</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here are some things that bother me about the WASL and Washington Standards:
1. I have attempted without success to discover an accepted framework of learning that supports Washington&#8217;s model of curriculum and assessment. OSPI references something called the &#8220;Carkhuff Conceptual Framework,&#8221; but I have been unable to find anything about it in the educational literature. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://valetc.com/2006/10/19/94/</link>
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		<title>WASL-WIKIALITY: Sounds Like a Job for Mythbusters</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia where truth is determined democratically. If enough users agree that something is true, it becomes fact. Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central&#8217;s Colbert Report has coined the term Wiki-ality to describe the reality defined by such a process. This article will attempt to show that the WASL is based on Wiki-ality [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://valetc.com/2006/10/10/wasl-%e2%80%9cwiki-ality%e2%80%9d-sounds-like-a-job-for-mythbusters/</link>
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		<title>THINKING SKILLS ACTIVITY: OBSERVING</title>
		<description><![CDATA[OBSERVING FOR DETAILS
Bob Valiant, 11 March 2004
Thinking Skill Emphasized: Observing for Detail
Suggestions are given for teaching/learning the skill of observing for detail.
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		<link>http://valetc.com/2006/05/23/thinking-skills-activity-observing-2/</link>
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