Track or educate?
Track or educate?
Sent to the Topeka Capital-Journal, May 24
There is rejoicing in Kansas because the state has received a grant to help track progress of individual students on standardized tests "from birth to college" ("Ks. Receives ed data grant," May 22). I think this is a tragic waste of money.
We already know which students and schools are doing well and which are not, and we know why: Research tells us that students from high-income families who attend well funded schools score as high any students in the world on international tests. Children of poverty in poorly funded schools score below international norms.
At a time when schools are badly under-funded and when money is tight, we are, apparently, eager to spend millions tracking and testing students when we should be spending money on educating them.
Sent to the Topeka Capital-Journal, May 24
There is rejoicing in Kansas because the state has received a grant to help track progress of individual students on standardized tests "from birth to college" ("Ks. Receives ed data grant," May 22). I think this is a tragic waste of money.
We already know which students and schools are doing well and which are not, and we know why: Research tells us that students from high-income families who attend well funded schools score as high any students in the world on international tests. Children of poverty in poorly funded schools score below international norms.
At a time when schools are badly under-funded and when money is tight, we are, apparently, eager to spend millions tracking and testing students when we should be spending money on educating them.
