Friday, June 22, 2012

We Never Run Out of Truly Bad Ideas « Diane Ravitch's blog

We Never Run Out of Truly Bad Ideas « Diane Ravitch's blog:


We Never Run Out of Truly Bad Ideas

Some days ago, I posted a blog about the decision by the Oklahoma Department of Education to post on its website the names and personal information of students who got a waiver and didn’t take the state tests. This was widely understood as a purposeful effort to humiliate the students.
Now from a reader comes something that is either equally mean or meaner. I report, you decide:
Today I read that two schools near me have been prohibited by the California legislature from issuing ID cards and notebooks color-coded TO REFLECT THE TEST SCORES OF THE STUDENTS. Yes!! The students with the top scores had black ID cards and notebooks. Then came gold for “proficient” and then white for low-performing. These last were made to stand in a separate cafeteria line!!!!!!  It’s so difficult to believe that this sort of nonsense is happening in the United States of America.
This sounded too absurd and mean-spirited to be true, and I had to check before posting. It’s true. Read it here.
Diane