Archive for May, 2007

Letter to NY Times about history testing

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

Kudos to those leaders of performance assessment and progressive public schools in New York City, Ann Cook and Phyllis Tashlik, who wrote an excellent letter to the editor published today in the New York Times critiquing the recent call for more history testing. Supporters of the idea to implement national standardized history tests (including Senators Kennedy [D-MA] and Alexander [R-TN]) claim that it would raise recognition for this subject, which has seen less prominence in schools since the NCLB law required testing in math and science. (See my blog post on this issue).

As Cook and Tashlik rightfully ask, “Are multiple-choice tests what we want for the teaching of history? Shouldn’t we clamor instead for policies that support in-depth inquiry, use of multiple sources and rigorous analysis of historical evidence?”

I do wonder, though, what “policies that support in-depth inquiry” would look like and how they would effect education. While standardized multiple-choice testing has indeed turned kids off to learning, greatly reduced critical thinking, and brought a callous business-style approach to education, I am skeptical that the solution ought to be policies supporting what is clearly better (in-depth inquiry, critical thinking, etc.) Couldn’t such policies result in rigid, sterile, dumbed down inquiry, just as the essays on SATs have led to the teaching of simplified standard 5 paragraph form essays?

Instead of new proscriptive policies, let’s call for the reduction and elimination of high-stakes testing along with a nation-wide dialogue about powerful approaches such as critical inquiry, performance assessment, and self-directed learning.

Posted in Education Policy, NYC Education | No Comments »

More testing = more value?

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

There are many damaging assumptions floating around in this standardized high-stakes testing educational atmosphere, including the notions that every child learns at the same rate and in the same way, that tests assess the most important aspects of life and learning, and that education will improve simply by increasing testing. At the beginning of my career in education a bunch of years ago I remember a talk by educational author and activist Jonathan Kozol, who compared this system to farmers who are trying to improve the milk output of their cows simply by placing the cows on large scales to see how much they weigh.

Another dangerous assumption out there is that by adding tests we add value to a class or activity or subject. A New York Times article today by Sam Dillon describes how those believing (rightfully so) that standardized testing narrows what goes on in schools are now trying to solve this problem by increasing the amount of testing in other subjects – in this case history. As the argument goes, the more testing in something, the more it will be valued by schools (at least in terms of time spent on the subject, likely not in terms of people believing in its value).

From the NY Times:

In Washington, Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, reintroduced a bill on Wednesday based on the premise that the National Assessment gave history short shrift, testing it every five to seven years instead of every other year as with reading and math. Their legislation would require national history tests every four years, with more students tested.

Yes, more of the same! Let’s also have more standardized tests to asses music skills and art skills and recess skills – that way we might save these programs that have been reduced or eliminated in many schools across the country!

But fighting something with more of the same does not work. And it is pretty clear that many progressives, including Senator Ted Kennedy, do not bring to education the progressive values they bring to issues such as foreign policy, health care, and poverty – resulting in ever more authoritarian, standardized, and business-style practices and policies in education, such as the idea to test kids more in history.

I am coming more and more to the belief that we need to have a massive grassroots movement involving students, parents, and teachers who want to fight these tests so much that they are willing to stage boycotts and refuse to take or give the tests. As the Students Against Testing website advocates, “Be a Hero, Take a Zero!”

Posted in Education Policy | No Comments »

Learning Centers in England

Monday, May 14th, 2007

As reported today by Richard Garner in The Independent, a local council in Knowsley, England will be transforming its 11 secondary schools into open learning centers by 2009. This is a revolutionary change that holds much significance for the rest of the UK and the world. The centers will be open for longer hours during weekdays and weekends, students will have personalized learning plans based on their interests, the physical spaces will look and function more like cafes than formal classrooms, and student-directed project-based learning will take the place of teacher-directed lectures.

From the article:

Knowsley Council in Merseyside, which – for years – has languished near or at the bottom of exam league tables, has abolished the use of the word to describe secondary education in the borough.

It is taking the dramatic step of closing all of its eleven existing secondary schools by 2009. As part of a £150m government-backed rebuilding programme, they will reopen as seven state-of-the-art, round-the-clock, learning centres with the aid of Microsoft – which has already developed links with one school in the borough, Bowring.

The style of learning will be completely different. The new centres will open from 7am until 10pm in both term-time and what used to be known as the school holidays. At weekends, they will open from 9am to 8pm.

Youngsters will not be taught in formal classes, nor will they stick to a rigid timetable; instead they will work online at their own speeds on programmes that are tailor-made to match their interests.

Coments such as the following make it hard to establish how much of the students’ activities under this new plan will be determined by the students or by the teachers: “[Students] will be given their day’s assignments in groups of 120 in the morning before dispersing to internet cafe-style zones in the learning centres to carry them out.”

However, these changes are profound and place Knowsley at the forefront of efforts around the world to transform education into a learner-centered approach that is based on self-direction, trust, and the human rights of young people.

Posted in Democratic Education, Education Policy, International News | No Comments »