Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Education Teaching to the Test
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 11:09 AM
[Here's something of a sneak peek for this week's upcoming In the Bluff column on the new educational standards for Tennessee students.]
The NYT reported last week that roughly 40 states have aligned (or are in the process of aligning) their state educational standards with national standards:
The quick adoption of common standards for what students should learn in English and math each year from kindergarten through high school is attributable in part to the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition. States that adopt the standards by Aug. 2 win points in the competition for a share of the $3.4 billion to be awarded in September.“I’m ecstatic,” said Arne Duncan, the secretary of education. “This has been the third rail of education, and the fact that you’re now seeing half the nation decide that it’s the right thing to do is a game-changer.”
- Phil Bredesen
"No one is against high standards," Bredesen said. "Where the rubber meets the road is when you have to live up to them."
But they hope that the new expectations will lead to higher levels of student achievement and, in the future, economic growth.
"The issue itself is education, but taking a step back," Frist said, "it's a huge social issue. It's a huge economic issue."
Comments (3)
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Why is it, that when it comes to education, everyone is wanting to raise the standards? As if raising the standards will do anything. It's about parents and giving a crap. give a crap = acheivement, don't give a crap = incarceration
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This is almost funny.
What they're basically saying is, in the past, our state tests were rigged to generate good scores so they could look like we were accomplishing something.
Now, prepare to witness the full horror.
Calling it "Teaching to the Test" is misleading.
I've tutored at an MCS elementary school, helping students prepare for the TCAPs. What's wrong with that? Middle class kids pay hundreds of dollars for Kaplan, Princeton and other test preparation courses, why shouldn't inner-city kids be prepared for tests, even if (but especially because) they affect the school's (and the system's) ratings.
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