Comments on: In Case You Missed It

By: Borderland › This is Not A Test

Borderland › This is Not A Test — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:05:31 +0000

[...] noting the disappearance of Marc Dean Millot’s post from Alexander Russo’s TWIE (Scholastic Inc) blog, I got an [...]

By: Sarah Puglisi

Sarah Puglisi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:52:28 +0000

States like mine badly need the $ and that comes with the catch. Good post Doug.
It’s a channel changing time. I’m too ill right now to write……and I sure appreciate reading this.

By: Doug Noon

Doug Noon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:40:00 +0000

Tim, your proposal sounds very similar to what the Forum for Education and Democracy came out with yesterday, as they outlined what they view as the legitimate federal role in education: promote high quality and well supported teachers, develop assessments of student achievement that focus on higher order thinking, and hold states responsible for the conditions to learn while holding communities responsible for equity and achievement. I think most of us could endorse a federal agency that did those things. Susan, I can't think of anything worse than competing for money by jumping through hoops that we know ahead of time will do nothing to further a quality education, and may even do just the opposite of what is best for students. It reminds me of what they call 'reality' TV. I'm ready to change the channel.

By: Tim Goree

Tim Goree — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:34:02 +0000

Indeed. It is pretty obvious that RTTT is a major power play that has very little to do with real education reform.

I believe in assessment and using good data to inform instructional decisions, but the state and federal levels of government are constantly finding more and more twisted ways to test inappropriately, then use the errant data they gather to make even more errant decisions that apply to local levels. The inappropriateness of all of the above is only multiplied by the fact that they are hopelessly removed from the realities of what individual students actually need or respond to.

If the state and federal levels of government actually wanted positive change to occur in education, they’d dedicate their considerable mental and financial resources to the task of creating flexible assessment frameworks that LOCAL communities could use to monitor the progress of their own schools. Oh, and they’d find ways to allow for those flexible assessment frameworks to include a holistic educational approach. It would be great if things like Science, History, Music, Sports, and other extra-curricular activities (what about community relations and real-world impact) actually mattered again.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:14:43 +0000

The whole idea of the Race to the Top money makes my stomach turn and the non-transparent process makes it even worse. Since when should anything in education be considered a race? RttT is bribe money. The feds dangle the carrot and the states start slobbering. To think that teachers could be fairly evaluated on test scores is absurd, but I’m preaching to the choir on this blog. Just like in every other state, in Nevada our governor is pressuring teacher associations to renegotiate contracts and drop opposition to evaluations based on test scores so we can join the race for the money. I teach in a high-poverty school with a large number of second-language learners. As we all know, they don’t come with the background knowledge to be successful on the biased state tests. The kids at the other end of town, however, are whom the tests are written for: upper middle class white kids. They come with background knowledge, vocabulary, and parental involvement that give them an advantage on the tests. And I should be evaluated based on that? I have no faith or trust in Duncan and I’m beginning to lose my faith in Obama. The corruption at the upper levels of educational decision-making continues.