No Child Left Behind and Global Competitiveness from New Learning Institute on Vimeo.
Archive for the ‘High Stakes Testing’ Category
Watch this Brilliant Man!
Saturday, September 4th, 2010Okay, All You Slacker Teachers in Hooper Bay, Alaska, You’re Fired!
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010But if they were who would replace them?
Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, reminded Mr. Duncan of that visit in asking about his school-turnaround strategies, given that the Hooper Bay school has been on the federal list of failing schools for years, she said.
Three of the administration’s four strategies would involve firing educators, which Ms. Murkowski said would be impractical in Hooper Bay.
“There’s no place to live, there’s no running water,” she said. “These are not conditions most teachers will be able to handle.”
“We already can’t keep good people there,” she added.
Concerns echoed in the Washington Post today by a ranking Republican Mike Enzi:
“I am very concerned that requiring school districts to use one of the four school turnaround models for schools identified for school improvement will adversely affect rural and frontier schools,” Enzi, ranking Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said at a hearing. He added: “Let me be clear that I am not proposing to give rural and frontier schools a free pass. Strategies mandated from Washington will simply not solve the problems facing these schools.”
Are you listening, President Obama?
Citizenry Anyone?
Saturday, March 27th, 2010In the end, teachers must understand what is happening to teaching in this country and know what they can do to be a public intellectual assisting in the development of the nations next generation of active, democratic citizenry.
I came upon this novel take by Candace Cofield on the dangers of teaching to the test and fast-track teacher training: they are detrimental to the teacher’s role as “public intellectual” (like the ring of that), whose primary charge is to prepare students to become responsible citizens in our democratic society.
As a part of this system, teachers are charged with the responsibility of preparing students to be independent, life-long learners, since civic participation demands that citizens stay abreast of current events, but also have knowledge of what preceded that contributes to the modern context.
To do so requires teachers themselves to be more than teachers of a specific academic content area, but also intellectuals who see themselves engaging in public debate and dialogue. They need to know how to create a learning environment that promotes discussion, problem-solving, appreciation for a diversity of perspectives, tolerance, and a focus on social justice.
Isn’t this the kind of teaching the government should be promoting?
Or is having an informed citizenry precisely what it doesn’t want?
Opting Out
Thursday, February 18th, 2010I went to an informational meeting for the parents of incoming special ed kindergartners and was struck by:
- the increased enrollment (max 30) we are guaranteed to see in the general ed classroom, and
- the emphasis on the state standards to which the state and district will hold our children
The thought of my already anxious boy taking inappropriate and stressful state tests is more than I can stomach, so I have done a little research and found the following item in a state testing FAQ.
Can the IEP team exempt my child from participating in state or districtwide assessments?No. The role of the IEP team is to determine how your child can participate most appropriately in the assessments. Currently, California Education Code allows parents/guardians to submit a written request to the principal of the child’s school if they do not want their child to take any or all parts of the STAR tests. Parents of children with disabilities must follow the regular school process to exercise this option. Parents cannot exempt their child from the CAHSEE. However, there are potentially significant consequences for your child’s school if a large number of students do not participate in the assessments. You should fully discuss the accommodations and/or modifications to enable your child to participate with the other members of the IEP team.
What these “consequences” may be are of no concern to me and shouldn’t be to any parent. What I can say as a resource specialist teacher who has had the unfortunate duty of administering inappropriate state tests to special ed students is that for many if not most of them it has been an excruciating experience.
Will my son be taking state tests when he reaches second grade? Yes if he can absolutely handle them; no if he cannot.