Can California Offer a New Model for Accountability? Or Are We Still Chasing Test Scores?
A couple of weeks ago, Linda Darling-Hammond and Randi Weingarten offered an interesting take on the path forward regarding Common Core and high stakes tests. They suggest that the real problem is not the standards, but the high stakes tests currently associated with them. Remove these destructive high stakes, they say, and the standards and tests will be transformed into something beneficial.
They offer California as a role model, and say this:
State leaders eliminated all of the old state tests while bringing in new and better Common Core assessments. These will be used, along with other measures, to inform instruction and professional development, not to punish children, schools, or teachers. State funds have meanwhile been invested in modernizing schools, improving instruction, adding technology, and expanding successful career academies.
They continue:
When these measures identify struggling schools, intervention will come in the form of help from experts who are part of the California Collaborative -- a new entity that will provide teams of educators to diagnose what's working and what's not -- and will support ongoingCan California Offer a New Model for Accountability? Or Are We Still Chasing Test Scores? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: