Reply #24: The "testocracy" (Kucinich) line is fatally flawed...

[revcarol]

the idea that you can test and test and test and not teach to the test, have your whole curriculum geared toward the test,and really end up with well-educated students who will function in a non-test society where originality, creativity,functioning on a rational basis, critical thinking are not emphasized...totally flawed.

I worked in the Texas system where they had the TAAS(before Bush and before the "Leave Every Child Behind" Act.I was removed from the classroom to become a curriculum specialist in improving skills "measured " by the TAAS in the field of high school Social Studies.I concentrated on improving SS vocabulary skills, map reading and data interpretation skills, drawing conclusions from facts presented, being able to tell what pertinent facts WERE OMITTED from a given reading passage, testing basic SS concepts, and moving students from a reading level of 6th grade level to a reading level of 8th grade(for a graduation test to be taken in the 11th grade.)

THAT WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH. I had to go back and design 61 lessons to make them easier to read, no drawing of conclusions from data,no critical thinking....

And all the while, the school district was spending 6(SIX!!)weeks on nothing but test-taking skills, and how to guess the right answers by eliminating choices especially in math...Even Honors English had to spend DAYS learning how to write a three paragraph answer to a given question.SHEESH!!
Most of these students came from very poor economic circumstances; English was not the first language for about 40% of the students; they needed more exposure to ENRICHING LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES, not even more limitations on what they could learn.

Standards can be high without this slavery to testing.Just adding money to enrich the designers of tests does not solve the basic problem: that teachers and students need to be MORE creative in teaching and learning.

Motivation of the students is completely stifled by this "teach to the test" strategy.

More and more administrators are encouraging low-performing students to drop out and "get your GED" so that test scores will be higher.And, of course, no one tracks how many get their GED...

Kerry is totally WRONG and I do not hesitate to say it!!