The Power of Play | Parents Across America:
by pureparents
Parent Voices Weekly Education Fax April 17, 2013 Fix our schools, don’t privatize them This week’s update:Market-driven school reforms, mayoral control causing more harm than good A new study, “Market-oriented education reforms’ rhetoric trumps reality,” on the effects of market-driven reform in Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago concludes that little has been accomplished and some harm has been done to students, especially the underprivileged…. Market-oriented education reform refers to a series of initiatives that include educator evaluations based …
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by pagrundy
Here’s the letter MecklenburgACTS co-chair Pamela Grundy sent to the members of the N.C. House Education Committee, requesting that they support a moratorium on high-stakes testing. Find more on the North Carolina campaign at MecklenburgACTS.org. MecklenburgACTS also published a piece on tests and zombies in the Raleigh News and Observer this past Sunday. Dear Representative, On behalf of many, many North Carolina parents, I write to ask you to support HB 775, which would impose a one-year moratorium on state-mandated …
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by pureparents
Parents, teachers, children at Play-In call for less testing, more playing for young children in CPS
Chicago, IL: Today, dozens of parents, children and educators attended a “Play-In” organized by More Than a Score to highlight their concern that testing has taken over the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) classrooms of our youngest children, pushing play-based learning out.
The group set up play areas at CPS headquarters to demonstrate the power of play. Adults played side-by-side with children using blocks, bubbles, fingerpaints, musical instruments, trucks, dolls, Play-doh, crayons and paper, and puzzles.
More Than a Score is concerned that the youngest learners in Chicago Public Schools are facing multiple standardized tests—as many as 14 in some kindergarten classrooms – inappropriate amounts of seatwork and homework, and a lack of opportunities for play, exploration, and creativity. The combination of the longer school day, an overly academic curriculum for the youngest learners, and high-stakes testing is turning our children’s first learning experiences into an ordeal. Opportunities for true free play are becoming increasingly rare in Chicago Public Schools.
Cassie Creswell, parent of a CPS 1st grader at Goethe and a two year-old potential CPS preschooler, said, “Last year, when our school was planning for the longer day, I read a report that a full-day, six-hour
