November 2, 2010 by Irene Sege
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Michelle Rhee, former Washington, D.C., schools chief, is a proponent of tests that evaluate teachers against "clear, rigorous performance expectations."
For years now, a war has been brewing between two sides of the education world.
One side argues that standardized tests are necessary to evaluate teacher performance, and the other argues that these tests are an inadequate measure of the hard work that teachers pour into their classrooms.
With the recent release of the movie "Waiting for 'Superman,' " that war has spilled out of the classrooms and into the mainstream. And at the heart of this war is the commonly heard argument that standardized tests cause teachers to "teach to the test."
"Teaching to the test" has become a derogatory phrase, conjuring up images of teachers and schools - driven by the knowledge that they are being judged based on their students' performance on standardized tests - throwing out engaging and creative lessons and replacing them with rote memorization techniques and tricks that somehow get students to answer the questions correctly without mastering the content.
The conclusion that all too many draw is that to prevent teaching to the test, we must eliminate the tests altogether or at least dramatically de-emphasize their role. But the reality is that we need these tests. The best way to ensure that our children are actually
Waiting for “Superman”
a film directed by Davis Guggenheim
Paramount Pictures
Anthony, a fifth-grade student hoping to win a spot at the SEED charter boarding school in Washington, D.C.; from Davis Guggenheim’s documentary Waiting for ‘Superman’
Ordinarily, documentaries about education attract little attention, and seldom, if ever, reach neighborhood movie theaters. Davis Guggenheim’sWaiting for “Superman” is different. It arrived in late September with the biggest publicity splash I have ever seen for a documentary. Not only was it the subject of major stories in Time andNew York, but it was featured twice onThe Oprah Winfrey Show and was the centerpiece of several days of programming by NBC, including an interview with President Obama.
Two other films expounding the same arguments—The Lottery and The Cartel—were released in the late spring, but they received far less attention than Guggenheim’s film. His reputation as the director of the Academy Award–winningAn Inconvenient Truth, about global warming, contributed to the anticipation surrounding Waiting for “Superman,” but the media frenzy suggested something
Starting next year, for-profit schools, including some of the nation's biggest online colleges—like theUniversity of Phoenix, Kaplan University, and Strayer University—will have to provide graduation rate and job placement figures to new students and applicants, the Department of Education has ordered. That's a sample of more than a dozen reforms the government will impose on for-profit schools beginning July 1, 2011. Students will now be able to make more informed decisions, the Department says. "These new rules will help ensure that students are getting from schools what they pay for: solid preparation for a good job," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an Oct. 28 press release.
[Online programs have respect to gain among employers.]
The regulations were announced amid scrutiny of for-profit schools from the Senate Health, Labor and Pensions Committee, a damning report from the Government Accountability Office, and investigations into abuse of taxpayer funded loan money by state attorneys general. In October, for instance, Oregon's treasurer and attorney general sued Apollo Group, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, claiming that the school was eager to boost profits with little regard for its students. A motion filed in
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Newark Mayor Cory Booker speaks to reporters to announce the Partnership for Education in Newark called "PENewark" during a press conference at a former furniture store, located on Market Street in Newark on Monday.NEWARK — Newark will soon launch its $100 million school makeover with a citywide campaign of "relentless outreach," to tap into the ideas of residents on turning around the city’s troubled schools.
The program announced Monday stems from the $100 million pledged for school reform by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and will have a citywide reach, using phone banks, door-to-door canvassers and neighborhood meetings.
It is the first concrete step as Newark plans to begin spending the donated money. PENewark, or Partnership for Education in Newark, was formally kicked off Monday by city leaders, including Mayor Cory Booker and School Superintendent Clifford Janey.
"We want every Newarker’s input in every step of this process," Booker said Monday at a press conference held to announce foundation of PENewark, which was described as the "primary organizing force" for the school
The Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award will become part of the ALA's Youth Media Awards, which also include multicultural awards such as the Coretta Scott King Book Award, given "to encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience." The new award will be bestowed by the ALA’s Stonewall
Dear Deborah,
Your last blog takes us back to a time when we were on opposite sides of the pedagogical fence. I was aware of your work in the "open classroom" movement, and none too appreciative of that movement. I tend to prefer students in classrooms with walls and a door and have vivid memories of visiting "open" schools where four classes were at work in the same space, divided spontaneously by bookcases or other physical markers pushed into place to allow the teachers to have almost a room of their own. Back in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, I engaged in verbal duels with advocates of bilingual education, whole language, constructivist math, multicultural education, and many variants of progressivism.
I recall how I met you. First, as you note, you slammed my book, The Troubled Crusade, in Dissent in 1983, and we exchanged some verbal salvos in that journal. Then, in 1988, you again let me have it when you blasted "What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know?" in the pages of Dissent (my co-author was Chester E. Finn, Jr.). I don't recall if or how I responded, but I expressed my frustration to Al Shanker, and he said very simply, "I think you and Deb would like each other. Why don't you call her and make a date to see her?" I confess that the thought had never crossed my mind. I took his advice. I called and still remember what I said when I reached you on the
Election Day 2010 has arrived! Voting is the cornerstone of a democracy. In today’s close and hotly contested election, turnout matters and every vote counts. We urge our supporters to vote for candidates who support resources and policies that benefit children and promote high-quality early education and third grade reading proficiency.
