Sunday, January 20, 2013

EXCLUSIVE: Department of Education staffer rips standardized testing and tells kids to skip them and nap or go to the zoo instead - NYPOST.com

EXCLUSIVE: Department of Education staffer rips standardized testing and tells kids to skip them and nap or go to the zoo instead - NYPOST.com:


Department of Education staffer rips standardized testing, tells students to skip school

  • Last Updated: 6:33 AM, January 20, 2013
  • Posted: 11:15 PM, January 19, 2013
Lisa Nielsen
Forget the city’s standardized tests — skip school!
That’s the shocking advice publicly offered by Lisa Nielsen, 44, a high-ranking city Department of Education official recently promoted to the newly created, six-figure position of “director of digital literacy and citizenship.”
In her spare time, Nielsen is an administrator of the Facebook group Opt Out of State Standardized Tests — New York, which promotes boycotting the very same standardized tests her agency administers.
“More and more parents are speaking out and standing up for their parental rights by opting their children out of standardized tests,” she wrote last week on her blog, “The Innovative Educator: Way Out of the Box!”
Lisa Nielsen
On Friday, she recommended that teachers assign students who opt out to other activities, including reading, writing and drawing — or taking a snooze.
“The test might just be a perfect time to catch some zzz’s,” she