NY State Education Department is a Problem
Ten years ago, the New York State Education Department got embroiled in a very embarrassing scandal. A vigilant parent discovered that many passages on the Regents’ exam in English had been heavily rewritten to remove any references to race, religion, gender, sex, and a bunch of other topics. The parent’s discovery merited a [...]
I hope you will sign this important resolution
This is the National Resolution Against High-Stakes Testing. Please read it: http://timeoutfromtesting.org/nationalresolution/ If you agree, I hope you will sign it. Let’s all raise our voices together against this nutty regime of ranking, rating, grading, evaluating every child, adult, school. Anything that moves. Say no. Make them stop. Diane
Philadelphia, Detroit, St. Louis: who is next
New “blueprint” for Philadelphia calls for closing of 40 public schools of the city’s 249. They will be replaced by charters. With more to be closed in the years ahead. Similar shutdowns of public schools have started or been projected for Detroit, St. Louis, D.C., Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Kansas City. School districts in Pennsylvania are [...]
Comment to a comment: why release test items?
A reader said it would be expensive to release all test items as the test publishers would have to spend lots more money creating new ones. Actually there is another way to think about all this. Release all the items as a public bank of thousands of items. Each year’s tests can be reviewed and [...]
Pay attention to Peer Assistance & Review to replace high-stakes testing for evaluation
Great common on my Edweek blog. Often I wish I had a way to call attention to smart comments like this one. My new blog gives me the chance to give additional attention to the ideas of thoughtful writers. This one comments as “laborlawyer.” Objecting to high-stakes-testing cannot stop high-stakes-testing unless those objecting can offer [...]
A college professor in Arkansas describes NCLB generation
A friend has been corresponding with a college professor in Arkansas. He asked about well prepared students are for college studies. This was the answer he received. As usual, in the current world of education, no one’s names will be mentioned for fear of offending the vindictive and powerful: “How are you???? “In response, from [...]
How stupid items get onto standardized tests
Many people have wondered how the New York State Education Department permitted the nonsensical story about the pineapple and the hare to get onto the state test. This is not the first time a really bad reading passage got onto the test and it won’t be the last. State Commissioner John King was quick to [...]
My new blog
I decided to start my own blog because I was overusing Twitter and treating it as a miniblog, which it isn’t. My weekly blog at Bridging Differences is great fun for me, and I love the format of exchanging letters with Deborah Meier. That format creates a certain aura of informality and encourages me to [...]
