Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, November 30, 2012

‘My kindergartener had 14 tests this year’

‘My kindergartener had 14 tests this year’:


‘My kindergartener had 14 tests this year’

Here are highlights (videos below) of a Chicago forum on standardized testing in public schools:
Parent Julie Fain said:
“My kindergartener had 14 tests this year.” 
“My fourth grader, now … they’re testing in PE and art and music and library and Spanish and in every special in three grades. And that adds up to total of 24 tests, and I find it shocking. It’s demoralizing for the teaching, horrifying for the parents. A lot of parents don’t know. As soon as I tell parents, they look at me like I’ve got horns because it couldn’t possibly be true.”
Madeline Kobayashi, a teacher at Philip Rogers Elementary School:
“When one testing window closes, another one opens. We are in a constant state of testing.”
At the townhall forum titled “The Culture of Testing: Assessing the Assessments at CPS” (Chicago Public Schools), parents and teachers spoke powerfully about the impact of so much testing on students and on instructional time. The panel of private and public school educators noted that private schools don’t have the deluge of tests that public schools are forced to give. Here are some video clips from the forum, sponsored by Illinois Raise Your Hand. On the School Tech Connect blog, Tim Furman wrote about the forum and posted 
School Tech Connect
http://www.schooltechconnect.com/