Below is an insightful Op-Ed from the NY Times. It's true. When I graduated from High School in 1973 the tests tested me, not my teachers. Now, its all backwards.
...Tests used (click title to entry - thank you) to be just for evaluating students, but now the testing of students is used to evaluate teachers and, in fact, the entire educational system. On an individual level, some students and parents have noticed a change — more standardized tests and more classroom and homework time devoted to preparation for them....
...Negative test results should never be presented as reasons for immediate and drastic action. When our students fail standardized tests, we need to work through many further difficult steps before concluding what, if anything, needs to be done. There is a long argumentative path from bad tests results to a justified call to arms.
States can apply for No Child Left Behind waivers (click here)
By ANDREW WIND, andrew.wind@wcfcourier.com
By ANDREW WIND, andrew.wind@wcfcourier.com
Posted: Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:00 pm
WATERLOO, Iowa --- States that reform their education systems could gain relief from provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act under a plan announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Education.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan told Midwest reporters in a conference call that states that apply for a waiver can have the increased flexibility "in exchange for a real commitment to reform."
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's administration is expected to unveil a package of proposed education reforms Oct. 3. Jason Glass, director of the Iowa Department of Education, said in a statement that "we support and appreciate" efforts to improve the law.
"Iowa plans on responding to the calls for designing new school accountability systems," Glass said. "We will work with the major groups involved with education in Iowa and state policy makers to design a plan that makes sense for us over the long term. This work may begin before the end of 2011."…
No Child Left Behind Waiver To Give SCEducators Freedom
(click here)
Districts, schools could get more flexibility with funding, teaching to improve student achievement
By:
Published: September 23, 2011
Published: September 23, 2011
COLUMBIA, SC --
States can now apply for waivers for certain No Child Left Behind rules, which may give South Carolina’s education leaders the flexibility they’ve been looking for to improve schools.
Friday, President Barak Obama announced that a decade after the sweeping education policy was signed into law by former President George Bush it is clear the plan isn’t working and states need to be able to change. The laws set gradually higher achievement benchmarks for schools, and ultimately required that 100 percent of student be proficient in reading and math by 2014. Opponents of the plan complained that it set impossibly high standards and punished struggling schools by withholding federal funds.
South Carolina Education Superintendent Mick Zais, who took office in January, raised concerns in July that under No Child Left Behind schools were wrongly labeled as failing if they missed even one of over 30 achievement goals for the year. For schools that improved, but still didn’t meet national standards, the assessments were disheartening.
Last year only 27 percent of the state’s middle and high schools met No Child Left Behind standards, compared to 61 percent the year before, because the standards went up….
...Obama said he has urged Congress to "fix" the law, but, would no longer wait....
