Tuesday, March 13, 2012

It was the shot heard 'round the county

It was the shot heard 'round the county:

It was the shot heard ’round the county

By Heber Taylor


The Clear Creek and Dickinson school boards adopted a resolution asking the Texas Legislature to dump the state’s fatally flawed public school accountability system.
The language in the resolution is much politer than that. But that’s the gist of it.
It’s a great resolution. Let’s hope it’s the first shot in a war to free teachers from the tyranny of politicians.
The system in place today simply does not work.
There has to be a better way to ensure accountability in education without an obsession with or addiction to a standardized test. In fact, there are better ways, and if you’re interested in the details, Diane Ravitch’s recent articles in The New York Review of Books are a sensible place to start.
Ravitch was assistant secretary of education in the administration of President George H.W. Bush and was a supporter of President George W. Bush’s initiatives with the No Child Left Behind