‘The drive to test, test, and re-test’ leads famous school board member to quit
Rick Roach, who is completing his fifth four-year term representing District 3 on the Board of Education in Orange County, Fla, may well be the most famous local school board member in the country. In 2011, he made national news when he took a test with questions used on standardized tests given to students in Florida and flunked, becoming […]
Why a ‘Student Privacy Bill of Rights’ is desperately needed
The growing use of technology has allowed for the collection of mass amounts of data on students. Control over personal information has been lost by students and the risks to student privacy have risen dramatically. In this post, Khaliah Barnes, director of the Student Privacy Project and administrative law counsel for the non-profit Electronic Privacy Information Center, lays […]
Grieving mom takes on state education commissioner over testing disabled students
I recently wrote about a bizarre open letter to teachers that Education Commissioner Pam Stewart released that accused people who want a change in standardized testing requirements for severely disabled students of launching a political attack on the department. Stewart’s missive followed testimony before the Board of Education by an Orange County, Fla., mother named Andrea […]
3-5-14 The Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet: 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.
