teach1st
08-04-2005, 04:41 AM
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpbrady04080405aug04,0,395589.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines
(Opinion)
'We are heavily reliant on standardized testing . . .," says Bill Hiss, talking about education in America. Hiss is vice president of Bates College in Maine.
"What we have learned at Bates," he argues, "is that this may be a monumental trip up a blind alley."
As you can guess if you've read even a few of my columns, that "blind alley" comment about standardized testing got my attention. Like just about every educator who has spent years in the classroom and given thought to what was going on in students' heads, I oppose high-stakes standardized tests. They confuse cultural differences and ignorance, aren't keyed to real-world or adult success, lend themselves to political game-playing, cost enormous amounts of money, short-change non-tested fields of study, deaden or penalize creativity, hand local control of education over to faceless corporate interests, undercut teacher professionalism, divert attention from myriad non-educational factors affecting school performance, and are crude measures of even simple abilities.
(Incidentally, reading isn't a "simple ability.")
Hiss was speaking on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. Just to be sure I'd heard him right, I went into NPR's archives and replayed his comments several times.
Whether or not you agree with his "blind alley" view, there's no question about our growing reliance on standardized tests. DIBELS, DRP, FCAT, HSCT, PSAT, SAT, NAEP, ACT, ITBS, CAT, TASK and CTBS are some of those with which many students are familiar. Your kid or grandkid probably won't be required to take every one of them, but the consequences of their scores on the ones they do take will almost certainly follow them for the rest of their lives, opening some doors, slamming others shut.
Read more (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpbrady04080405aug04,0,395589.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines)
(Opinion)
'We are heavily reliant on standardized testing . . .," says Bill Hiss, talking about education in America. Hiss is vice president of Bates College in Maine.
"What we have learned at Bates," he argues, "is that this may be a monumental trip up a blind alley."
As you can guess if you've read even a few of my columns, that "blind alley" comment about standardized testing got my attention. Like just about every educator who has spent years in the classroom and given thought to what was going on in students' heads, I oppose high-stakes standardized tests. They confuse cultural differences and ignorance, aren't keyed to real-world or adult success, lend themselves to political game-playing, cost enormous amounts of money, short-change non-tested fields of study, deaden or penalize creativity, hand local control of education over to faceless corporate interests, undercut teacher professionalism, divert attention from myriad non-educational factors affecting school performance, and are crude measures of even simple abilities.
(Incidentally, reading isn't a "simple ability.")
Hiss was speaking on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. Just to be sure I'd heard him right, I went into NPR's archives and replayed his comments several times.
Whether or not you agree with his "blind alley" view, there's no question about our growing reliance on standardized tests. DIBELS, DRP, FCAT, HSCT, PSAT, SAT, NAEP, ACT, ITBS, CAT, TASK and CTBS are some of those with which many students are familiar. Your kid or grandkid probably won't be required to take every one of them, but the consequences of their scores on the ones they do take will almost certainly follow them for the rest of their lives, opening some doors, slamming others shut.
Read more (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpbrady04080405aug04,0,395589.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines)