Schools Matter: Bitter Lessons from Chasing Better Tests

Schools Matter: Bitter Lessons from Chasing Better Tests

Bitter Lessons from Chasing Better Tests

by P. L. Thomas

In a New York Times Op-Ed (22 March 2009), E. D. Hirsch Jr. argued, "We do not need to abandon either the principle of accountability or the fill-in-the-bubble format. Rather we need to move from teaching to the test to tests that are worth teaching to."

This refrain parallels the contradictory messages coming from the Obama administration that claims supporting a change to the culture of testing in NCLB, but then argues for better testing.

Secretary of Education Duncan, in a speech about NCLB reauthorization (24 September 2009), acknowledged concerns about testing, but immediately took the same position as Hirsch: "Until states develop better assessments--which we will support and fund through Race to the Top--we must rely on standardized tests to monitor progress--but this is an

Squeeze out unnecessary testing, not librarians

by skrashen

Squeeze out unnecessary testing, not librarians

Sent to the New York Times, June 25, 2011

The US Department of Education is planning the most massive and expensive testing program ever seen on the planet, far exceeding the already unacceptable level of testing demanded by NCLB. There is no evidence that the new tests will work and plenty of evidence that they will not. If they fail, students and teachers will suffer, but testing companies will keep their profits and will get to try again.

At the same time, schools are "squeezing out librarians" (June 25). Study after study shows that quality school libraries staffed by a credentialed school librarian are related to higher reading scores.

For a fraction of the cost of the new standards and tests, which have no research support, we could easily