Testingtalk.org Website Gets 150,000 Hits in a Couple of Days
The new website where teachers and parents can comment on the new tests has registered 150,000 hits in the 2 or 3 days since it was launched, according to Susan Ochshorn of ECE Policy Matters. A great place to hear from teachers.
Pearson Wants You!
This confirms what Todd Farley wrote in his book about the testing industry, “Making the Grades,” and what Dan DiMaggio wrote in “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Test Scorer”: A reader in Austin sent this ad on Craig’s List: Posted: 25 days ago Seeking Talented And Qualified Individuals To Score Essays! (Austin, Texas) compensation: $12.00 Use Your Degree To Make A Difference! Pearson Wan
NYC Parent: Cancel the Tests!
Jeff Nichols appeals to State Commissioner King and Chancellor Farina to call off the math tests. He writes: Dear Commissioner King and Chancellor Fariña, Events are moving very fast. You are no doubt aware that today the principal, staff and parents of one of the most highly regarded schools In New York City, PS 321 in Brooklyn, will be holding a protest outside their schools to decry the abysm
Educator Reacts with Disgust to Common Core Tests
Teachers and administrators have been posting their comments on the new Common Core tests at the new website testing talk.com. This was typical. I copied this from the testingtalk.org website just now and thought you might like to see this. Bravo to this principal. I wish I taught for him/her! Disheartened and Disgusted Author: Anonymous, Administrator, Principal | State: NY | Test: State test: P
The Best and the Worst about My Day at AERA#14
I went to Philadelphia to attend the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting and to participate in two events. First, a conversation with Philadelphia parent leader Helen Gym about the current efforts underway to destroy and eliminate public education in that city. Then, a lecture to the John Dewey Society. And an evening capped off by dinner with Linda Darling-Hammon and
Third Grade Teacher: What Are We Testing?
On the website Testtalk.org, there are many interesting comments about the three days of testing English Language Arts. Why does it require so many hours to find out how well children read? No one knows, or if they know, they aren’t saying. Here is a thoughtful reflection by a third-grade teacher: “I have been wondering for years now what these tests are really accomplishing, and this year I am
Waltons Send Big $$$$ to North Carolina for Voucher Advocates
Now that North Carolina is controlled by an extremist governor and legislature intent on destroying public education, the Walton Family Foundation has increased its support for groups advocating for vouchers in that state. Lindsay Wagner writes in NC Policy Watch: “The Walton Family Foundation, known for supporting vouchers, charters, and other school privatization initiatives across the country
New Tests: Where Is the Great Literature?
One of the selling points for the Common Core was that it would turn to great literature and drop the pablum formulaic passages of the past. This teacher says the tests were the same old, same old: “Seems strange that so much of the “authentic literature” on the tests seems to come from children’s magazines. Many of the stories, while decently written, don’t seem that different from passages writ
Common Sense in Meridian, Mississippi
The Board of Trustees of the Meridian, Mississippi, public school district voted unanimously to terminate an agreement with Freedom Rock Christian Fellowship Church because the church planned to open a charter school. “Freedom Rock is among a dozen groups statewide that have filed applications for the first charter schools in Mississippi. The Meridian church and its parent organization New Desti
Test Yourself: Can You Solve PISA Problems? Does It Matter?
In the past few days, the media has barraged us with stories about how American students rank on PISA’s “problem-solving” test. We were told that they scored better than average yet still behind other nations. But what is the test and what does it mean? Andy Hargreaves of Boston College, co-author with Michael Fullan of Professional Capital, tweeted to me an article in the British press that c
Molly Rowan Leach: Time to Liberate Our Children from the Atrocities Imposed on Them
As the great testing machine begins to take over our children’s lives, parents are waking up to the damage done to their children, bordering on child abuse. Some children are traumatized by the fear and high-stakes attached to the tests. They fear failure. They fear being held back a grade. They fear that they will cause their teacher to be fired or their school to be closed. What evil minds c
Steve Zimmer on the Vergara Trial
The Vergara trial is an effort by a Silicon Valley multi-millionaire to eliminate due process rights for teachers in California. The theory of the case is that due process (AKA, tenure) makes it hard to fire “bad” teachers, and thus poor kids get more bad teachers who can’t be fired. This violates their civil rights. Los Angeles superintendent John Deasy testified for the plaintiffs. No one asked
David Berliner on Early Childhood Education
As the debate about universal pre-kindergarten heats up, it bears listening to one of our nation’s pre-eminent researchers, David Berliner. He writes: There are some European citations about early childhood education that are often left out of the debate in the USA. But we use them in 50 myths and lies that threaten American public education (Berliner, Glass and Associates, 2014, Teachers Colleg
Ken Mitchell: Beware! VAM Lawsuits Ahead!
Kenneth Mitchell, a school superintendent in the Lower Hudson Valley of New York, has been concerned about the costs imposed on school districts by Race to the Top. He previously estimated that six districts in his region would spend $11 million to comply with the mandates of Race to the Top, which paid these districts $400,000. In this comment, he describes a recent meeting with lawyers about pos
The Texas Testing Mess: Who Stabbed the Vampire?
Jeffrey Weiss here writes in the Dallas Morning News about “How the Texas Testing Bubble Popped.” One man, the courageous State Commisssioner of Education, Robert Scott, said what was on everyone’s minds. Everyone thought he was a loyal soldier in Governor Rick Perry’s army, a slave to standardized testing. But then he said the words that gave hearts to parents and educators in Texas and ac
Peter Greene: US DOE Boasts of Success of Race to Top
The main consequences of Race to the Top are chaos, disruption, demoralization, and teachers exiting their profession. Judged by results, the program is not just a failure, it is a menace to children, teachers, and education. But that’s not the way the DOE describes their $4.3 billion boondoggle. This is what Peter Greene says.
Pearson Wants to Help You Swim in the Digital Ocean
In case you didn’t know it already, privacy is dead. The National Security Agency has asserted the power to listen to your phone calls and read your emails. Now we learn from Pearson and the esteemed (Sir) Michael Barber (the architect of a philosophy known as “Deliverology”) that the capability to monitor the actions, behaviors, even thoughts of every student is at hand. We are all about to take
LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 4-3-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: UCLA Report: New York Has the Nation’s Most Segregated SchoolsAccording to the UCLA Civil Rights Project, New York State has the most segregated public schools in the nation. Nearly three-quarters of the charter schools in New York City are considered “apartheid schools” because less than 1% of their enrollment is white. Charters a