Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAtlanta Public Schools might be guilty of cheating, but the real scandal is standardized testing
from In These Times:
The Need to Cheat
Atlanta Public Schools might be guilty of cheating, but the real scandal is standardized testing.
BY Bill Ayers
The road to the massive cheating scandal in Atlanta runs right through the White House.
The former superintendent, Dr. Beverly L. Hall, and her 34 obedient subordinates now face criminal charges, but the central role played by a group of un-indicted and largely unacknowledged co-conspirators, her powerful enablers, is barely noted.
Beyond her strong relationship with the business elite who reportedly made her untouchable in Atlanta, she was a national super-star for more than a decade because her work embodied the shared educational policies of the Bush and Obama administrations. In the testing frenzy that characterized both No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top Dr. Hall was a winner, consistently praised over many years by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for raising test scores, hosted at the White House in 2009 as superintendent of the year, and appointed in 2010 by President Obama to the National Board for Education Sciences. When the Atlanta scandal broke in 2011 Secretary Duncan rushed to assure the public that it was very isolated and an easy one to fix.
Thats not true. According to a recently released study by the independent monitoring group FairTest, cheating is widespread and fully documented in 37 states and Washington D.C. ...................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/14813/the_ecstasy_of_influence_or_cheating/
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 787 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (5)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Atlanta Public Schools might be guilty of cheating, but the real scandal is standardized testing (Original Post)
marmar
Apr 2013
OP
xchrom
(108,903 posts)1. du rec. nt
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)2. Check out the thoughts of the Gordon Commission below on the future of testing (assessment)
http://www.gordoncommission.org/
The general idea is that testing should be used to improve teaching and learning more than as a way to place a student, or grade a teacher.
The general idea is that testing should be used to improve teaching and learning more than as a way to place a student, or grade a teacher.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)3. The Duncan and Obama children aren't educated this way
from the article:
"I recently interviewed leaders at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schoolsthe school Arne Duncan attended for 12 years and the school where the Obamas, the Duncans, and the Emanuels sent their childrenand asked what role test scores played in teacher evaluations there. The answer was none. I pressed the point and was told that in their view test scores have no value in helping to understand or identify good teaching. None."
http://inthesetimes.com/article/14813/the_ecstasy_of_influence_or_cheating/
And there's no NCLB testing going on at Sidwell Friends either - where the Obama children attend today.