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Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Answer Sheet - Are more high-stakes tests inevitable? A teacher says 'no'

The Answer Sheet - Are more high-stakes tests inevitable? A teacher says 'no'

Are more high-stakes tests inevitable? A teacher says 'no'

This was written by educator Anthony Cody, who taught science for 18 years in inner-city Oakland and now works with a team of science teacher-coaches that supports novice teachers. He is a National Board-certified teacher and an active member of the Teacher Leaders Network. This post appeared on his Education Week Teacher blog, Living in Dialogue. By Anthony Cody There are a great many fallacies swirling around our schools, and perhaps the biggest among them is that more testing, and ever higher stakes attached to tests, is inevitable, and thus resistance by teachers, students and parents is futile. Nothing could be further from the truth. The proponents of educational reform have committed the greatest error of the powerful. They have promised far more than they can deliver, and their enterprise is already failing by the markers they laid down.