I posted this interesting, well-written, and IMPORTANT article several months ago, but here it is again. If you (understandably) dont have time to read it, at least read my short summary of excerpts (keep in mind that these claims are fleshed out and supported in the actual article) or the final paragraph: One of those problems [...] is that many schools don’t have enough money to buy books... [and] standardized tests are not based on general knowledge. As I learned in the course of my investigation, they are based on specific knowledge contained in specific sets of books: the textbooks created by the test makers... Across the nation, standardized tests come from one of three companies: CTB McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, or Pearson. These corporations write the tests, grade the tests, and publish the books that students use to prepare for the tests... Put simply, any teacher who wants his or her students to pass the tests has to give out books from the Big Three publishers. The issue often has as much to do with wording as it does with facts or figures. The average [public] school [in Philadelphia] had only 27 percent of the books in the district’s recommended curriculum. At least 10 schools had no books at all, according to their own records. Others had books that were hopelessly out of date. It may be many years until Philadelphia’s education budget matches its curriculum requirements. In the meantime, there are a few things the district—and other flailing school districts in America—can do. Stop giving standardized tests that are inextricably tied to specific sets of books. At the very least, stop using test scores to evaluate teacher performance without providing the items each teacher needs to do his or her job. Most of all, avoid basing an entire education system on materials so costly that big, urban districts can’t afford to buy them. Until these things change, it will be impossible to raise standardized test scores—despite the best efforts of the teachers and students who will return to school this fall and find no new books waiting for them. theatlantic/features/archive/2014/07/why-poor-schools-cant-win-at-standardized-testing/374287/
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:05:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015