Veteran educator says tests are failing, standardized approach hobbles teachers and students | OregonLive.com

Veteran educator says tests are failing, standardized approach hobbles teachers and students | OregonLive.com

Veteran educator says tests are failing, standardized approach hobbles teachers and students

Published: Friday, August 12, 2011, 6:48 PM

View full sizeAnne Laufe, Special to The OregonianVivien Orlen (left), principal at Portland's Grant High School, hosts New York educator and activist Deborah Meier on her visit to Portland.

Some local educators reacted in dismay to the news that more Portland schools are failing under federal No Child Left Behind guidelines, but not Deborah Meier.

"The tests are meaningless," the veteran school reform activist said, referring to the measures used to determine how schools are performing.

Meier, who lives in New York City, was in Portland recently to speak at a conference sponsored by theAlternative Education Resource Organization.

Currently on the faculty at New York University's Steinhardt School of Education, the 80-year-old