C-Test

I am not a great fan of standardized testing, especially the high-stakes kind, in which the consequences of not doing well can result in extreme negative consequences for the test-taker.

I have laid out in a fairly extensive and well-documented article just what it is that makes standardized testing the wrong approach in terms of developing young minds and helping them find a productive path to work, citizenship and personal fulfillment.

Well, I have to add my voice to the debate over the proliferation of standardised testing and its effects on the education system. In the Tuesday, November 20, 2007, edition of The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), the Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability, composed of educators, has come against the excessive number of tests, at all levels. From primary grades to high school, they have strongly recommended reducing the number of tests students are required to take and teachers prepare them for. They refer to the ABC programme, which is the NC DPI's equivalent of NCLB. I hope they meant to include the latter, as well.

If only the good news about Wisconsin education was true - Roger Frank Bass:

Finally, there was some really good news about education. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the percentage of proficient readers in the third grade had increased from 64.8% in 1998 to 87.4% in 2005. And this improvement was broad-based - every minority group advanced substantially.

If only it were true

I was at Minnesota's Education Conference last week. Wow! Amazingly good stuff--differentiated instruction, positive behavior strategies, cognitive coaching, boys and reading, team-teaching, the latest technology--nothing but thought provoking, stimulating, creative, research-based ideas for improving teaching.

It was instructional nirvana. One problem though: as is clearer with each passing year, in many cases, there's not time, nor resources, nor energy to bring innovative ideas and practice to the classroom. There is only one thing that really matters in education right now: scores on standardized tests.

Children’s Action Agenda
Education
Draft 09-25-07

Vision for k-12 education: To ensure educational opportunity and advancement for all of Colorado’s children.

? 15,500 Colorado students who started as freshman in 2001 had not graduated four years later. Only half of Denver Public School students are graduating on time.

? Colorado ranks at the bottom 5th in terms of wealth spent in public education. Colorado spends $551.00 per child less than the national average.