PA English Prof Opts Out Son from PSSA Test
We need a hundred more examples like this one, and we will see the house of cards come tumbling down. From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
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Why I Won't Let My Son Take the PSSA
By Kathy M. Newman
I am an English professor. So you can imagine how my pride was hurt when my 9-year-old son Jacob started bringing home low scores on his practice reading tests for the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.
My husband and I have been helping Jacob with his test-prep reading homework every weeknight this year, and it has been a grim slog. At times I have found myself getting angry when Jacob has fidgeted, or when he has had trouble focusing. Sometimes I have gotten angry when he simply hasn't been able to answer the questions.
Then one day this March it dawned on me. I am getting angry at my son about a test. A test that I do not like. A
Japan dem party wants TOEFL univ. entrance/exit in Japan
Sent to the Japan Times, March 31, 2013.
English: A suggestion
The Japan Times has it right: Money should be investing in teaching English, not testing it (“Testing English versus teaching it.” March 31).
Here is a suggestion that will save money and give excellent results. Instead of investing money on expensive standardized testing, invest in English libraries, filled with interesting and comprehensible reading material that students are really interested in reading, including novels, graphic novels, and comics, magazines. Research done throughout the world confirms that those who read more read better, write better, have larger vocabularies and more control of complex grammar. Research also strongly suggests that doing a great deal of “light reading” provides the competence that makes “heavier” and more “serious” reading more comprehensible.
This is true in first language and second language, and is one of the most widely replicated results in educational research.
Of great interest to Japan is the fact that a good deal of some of the compelling research in this area has been
English: A suggestion
The Japan Times has it right: Money should be investing in teaching English, not testing it (“Testing English versus teaching it.” March 31).
Here is a suggestion that will save money and give excellent results. Instead of investing money on expensive standardized testing, invest in English libraries, filled with interesting and comprehensible reading material that students are really interested in reading, including novels, graphic novels, and comics, magazines. Research done throughout the world confirms that those who read more read better, write better, have larger vocabularies and more control of complex grammar. Research also strongly suggests that doing a great deal of “light reading” provides the competence that makes “heavier” and more “serious” reading more comprehensible.
This is true in first language and second language, and is one of the most widely replicated results in educational research.
Of great interest to Japan is the fact that a good deal of some of the compelling research in this area has been