Monday, January 26, 2015

EDUCATION - Is Standardized Testing a Failure?

"Is ‘The Test’ failing American schools?" PBS NewsHour 1/22/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  As Congress considers revisions to the No Child Left Behind education law, there’s a larger debate about the role and efficacy of using standardized tests as assessment.  Anya Kamenetz, author of “The Test:  Why Our Schools Are Obsessed With Standardized Testing, But You Don't Have To Be,” joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the evolving role of testing and the “big, unintended consequences.”

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  As Congress begins to tackle a new federal education law that would succeed No Child Left Behind, one of the major dividing lines is already clear.  What is the proper role and use of testing?

It’s a question that has long touched a raw nerve among parents and educators.

A new book explores that controversy and testing’s possible future.

Hari Sreenivasan has our conversation from our New York studios.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  On the one hand, parents know their children’s talents can’t be quantified by multiple choice tests.  At the same time, they often want their children to do well on high-stakes exams.

A new book explores those issues and a growing backlash against testing in many circles.  It’s called “The Test:  Why Our Schools are Obsessed with Standardized Testing, But You Don’t Have to Be.”

COMMENT:  The problem with standardized tests is, like many things, the money connect with it.  It is tying the test results to school funding.  These tests should only be used to compare a particular school to others in a state and the nation.  To answer the question "can my school do better?"  To see what schools work well and those who don't.

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