Owen Davis: How Pearson and Other Test Makers Made a Killing on the U.S. Testing Mania
Owen Davis writes here about the enrichment of the testing industry by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.
The testing and accountability craze started before No Child Left Behind, but that federal law turned it into a bonanza for Pearson and other companies and led to a consolidation of the testing industry.
We now know, almost 20 years after NCLB was signed into law on January 8, 2002, that it has had very little effect on student test scores, on closing achievement gaps, or on any of the other wild promises made first by George W. Bush, echoed by Rod Paige and Margaret Spellings, and reiterated again by Arne Duncan and John King.
Who in Congress or the federal government will have the courage to call a halt to this insane investment of billions of dollars into the testing industry?
Davis writes:
Three days after taking office, George W. Bush unveiled his signature domestic policy, No Child Left Behind. The bill would triple the number of exams the federal government required of students, while dangling stiff CONTINUE READING: Owen Davis: How Pearson and Other Test Makers Made a Killing on the U.S. Testing Mania | Diane Ravitch's blog