The key problem the SAT changes won’t fix
Big changes are coming (again) to the SAT, the once almighty college admissions test that was overtaken in popularity by the ACT. The essay portion of the exam, added in 2005 with great fanfare as a crucial new part of the exam, is now being made optional, because apparently, it wasn’t all that crucial after […]
Parent to Obama: Why don’t private schools adopt your test-based school reforms?
Bertis Downs is a parent who lives in Athens Ga., and the former legal counselor and manager of the band R.E.M. He wrote the following letter to President Obama, inviting the president to visit a high school in Athens to see the impact of his administration’s standardized test-based policies there. Dear President Obama, Last […]
The false markets of market-based school reform
One of the central tenets of modern school reform is that the public education system would be more efficient if it were run like a for-profit business. Here to discuss the problems with this thinking is Bruce D. Baker, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. […]
3-4-14 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: A bizarre letter from Florida’s Education DepartmentWhat is the Florida Education Department thinking? State Education Commissioner Pam Stewart just issued an open letter to teachers (see below) that makes the ridiculous mistake of accusing people who want a change in standardized testing requirements for severely disabled students of launching a political attack on the departmen