Monday, February 17, 2014

“What sober person gives standardized tests to a kindergartner? Ever meet a 5-year-old?” – Part 1 | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates

“What sober person gives standardized tests to a kindergartner? Ever meet a 5-year-old?” – Part 1 | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates:



“What sober person gives standardized tests to a kindergartner? Ever meet a 5-year-old?” – Part 1

What Sober Person - Tweet
Dear Bill and Melinda,
It is no surprise that 522 + people find the headlines to Nerissa Ediza’s tweet horrifying. Her question is so rational and yet, what is irrational is what is actually happening behind the closed doors of our kindergarten classrooms — testing upon layer of testing – standardized, summative, and formative testing of 5 year olds that is often hidden from their parent’s eyes.   Mandated unnecessary corporate-reform-instigated-standardized testing of 5 year olds is growing at an alarmingly rate, as Race to the Top and Common Core have invaded our kindergarten classrooms.  How can this be? If parents and community members knew the truth, what would they do about it?
While this tweet is about Oregon, the standardized testing program called Teaching Strategies Gold Assessment Tool (TSGAT) discussed in The Oregonian is ramping-up across America with your financial support. I found several instances of your funding TSGAT.
Peg Robertson give readers great details about TSGAT in her blog:  “Do Not Go for the Gold (Teaching Strategies Gold) for Early Childhood”.
You can read The Oregonian author’s report here:
What Sober Person The Oregonian
You see, TSGAT is not the only standardized test, nor the only assessment we are mandated to use on our kindergartners. I will discuss my kindergarten testing 
“What sober person gives standardized tests to a kindergartner? Ever meet a 5-year-old?” – Part 2 Dear Bill and Melinda, I wrote “What sober person gives standardized tests to a 

“What sober person gives standardized tests to a kindergartner? Ever meet a 5-year-old?” – Part 3 Dear Bill and Melinda, Our last post covered how corporate reform has