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Highlighting News Stories for Our Town for the week of April 23, 2002 |
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Embarrassment is the word for this week.
In two separate stories, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church and the head of the Department of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are under the glare of public scrutiny.
First, we look at the church crisis as it continues to unfold this week. As most of you are aware, every television network and the whole of the print media have surrounded the Vatican in Rome to report on the gathering of American Cardinals with the Pope.
The cardinals are meeting together with the Vatican officials to review the scandal that has been reported in the public domain for these last few months.
There is no question that this is the most serious issue the American Catholic Church has faced in its time.
Stay tuned for developments as they occur throughout this troubling time.
Second, we draw your attention to the Department of Education’s press release issued on April 11. The press release made reference to the annual MCAS tests being administered to students in the public schools in Massachusetts. The press story referred to the English Language Arts section of the MCAS tests and the set of questions that students would be required to answer.
It is terribly ironic that this press release, stressing the importance of students using correct sentence structure and grammar and syntax, was written rather poorly.
In fact, in the ten paragraphs making up the story, four of those paragraphs contained obvious errors in sentence structure, grammar, and syntax.
For me, the embarrassment is that the press release unwittingly provides the public with clear examples of ‘poor’ writing.
Further, quotes from the Commissioner of Education, David Driscoll, were rambling and unclear.
Was this done of a purpose to see who would find the errors, or is expository writing a lost art within the leadership in our Department of Education?
The press release is found below. See how many errors you can find.
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MCAS Long Composition Writing Prompts Released
April 11, 2002 MALDEN - Adventures, respect and inner struggles were the topics students were asked to consider on this year’s MCAS long composition, according to writing prompts released to the public on Thursday. More than 250,000 students in grades 4, 7 and 10 took the long composition portion of the state assessment test on Tuesday, April 9. Make up tests, with different writing prompts, will be administered to students who missed the test on May 9. This is the first year eighth graders will not be assessed in English Language Arts. In an effort to spread out the testing, the middle school ELA test was moved to grade 7 in 2001. The long composition was administered in two 45-minute blocks, allowing students time to write a first draft of their essay, fine-tune it, and then craft a final, edited version in the second block. "We release these writing prompts every year because we want the public to know what we are expecting of our students," said Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll. "These are challenging prompts that give students a chance to show not only their writing ability, but their ability to carefully think out a topic and then express their ideas in a comprehensive way on paper." The essays will each be assigned two scores. One for idea/topic development, and the other for basic writing skills, such as sentence structure, grammar and spelling. Commissioner Driscoll said this year’s administration of the long composition exam was the smoothest ever. "It’s clear that students have gained a better understanding of what to expect from the MCAS writing prompts," he said. "Students are doing what we are asking of them, they’re treating the MCAS seriously, and taking care to answer the questions to the best of their ability." The remainder of the MCAS exams will be given from May 13-24. The writing prompts are: Grade 4: All of us have had a special time or adventure in our lives. It could be anything such as a visit with a friend or relative, a party you went to, or a game you watched or played. Or it could be something completely different. Write a story about a special time or adventure that you have had. Give enough details in your story to show what it was like and what made it so special. Grade 7: Respect. Singers sing about it. Some people inspire it. Think about someone you respect and admire. The person can be someone you know, or someone you have read or heard about. In a well-developed composition, describe the person you have selected. Explain in detail at least two reasons why you respect this person. Grade 10: In literature as in life, people struggle with principles or beliefs they hold. From a work of literature you have read in or out of school, select a character who struggles with his or her own principles or beliefs. In a well-developed composition, identify that character and explain how that character’s inner struggle is important to the work of literature.
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