Sunday, May 13, 2012

One View of the Reformers’ End Game « Diane Ravitch's blog

One View of the Reformers’ End Game « Diane Ravitch's blog:


One View of the Reformers’ End Game

No sooner did I blog to question the reformers’ end game than NYC teacher Marc Epstein, who has a doctorate in history, wrote to remind me that he had already asked and answered that question a year ago on Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-epstein/the-education-reformers-e_b_840831.html
Marc has lived through the closure of Jamaica High School, the school where he taught social studies for many years. He has seen barely controlled chaos as small schools were opened to replace a comprehensive high school that was once one of the city’s best. but which was turned into a dumping ground by the Department of Education.
Is he right? Has anyone in the reform camp thought through what our schools will look like after teachers have


A Test Question Stupider Than Pineapplegate

This has to be the stupidest question of the 2012 testing season. Third grade students in New Jersey were asked to reveal a secret. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57432728/nj-school-exams-secret-question-angers-parents/
What exactly is the point of this question? It does not ask the students to explain what he or she has learned. It is not related to what they were taught or should have learned.
It is intrusive, nosy, pointless, and stupid.
Questions like this add fuel to the popular outrage against high-stakes testing.
Someday, people will look back on this era and wonder: “What were they thinking?”
Diane