A weapon of mass distraction
Submitted to the Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 18, 2013
I suspect that the common core standards’ elitist reading lists (sample items in “Are you as well-read as a 10th grader?” Jan. 17) are designed to get educators and the public arguing about what should be on the reading lists, rather than focusing on the far more important question of whether we should have common core standards and tests at all.
There is no evidence that standards and tests improve school achievement. The huge sums of money budgeted for standards and for tests to enforce the standards should be used to protect children from the effects of poverty, the real reason so many students struggle in school.
Stephen Krashen
Original article: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2012/0625/Are-you-as-well-read-as-a-10th-grader-Take-our-quiz/The-Odyssey-by-Homer
I suspect that the common core standards’ elitist reading lists (sample items in “Are you as well-read as a 10th grader?” Jan. 17) are designed to get educators and the public arguing about what should be on the reading lists, rather than focusing on the far more important question of whether we should have common core standards and tests at all.
There is no evidence that standards and tests improve school achievement. The huge sums of money budgeted for standards and for tests to enforce the standards should be used to protect children from the effects of poverty, the real reason so many students struggle in school.
Stephen Krashen
Original article: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2012/0625/Are-you-as-well-read-as-a-10th-grader-Take-our-quiz/The-Odyssey-by-Homer
If Duncan Addressed the Violence He CAN Do Something About
Imagine if Arne were willing to heed the advice of teachers on what they know most about--the effects of testing! From HuffPo:
Duncan On
Duncan On Guns Tests In Schools: Hard To Teach Kids Scared Of Being KilledFailing or Not Graduating
FOLLOW:
WASHINGTON -- Too many students worry more about being killed by a gun tests than learning in the classroom, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said on Thursday, as he cautioned that firearms tests alone do not make schools better safer .
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"This was only a first step. We need a lot less children being shot dead tested. We need a lot less
