Watch This Two-Minute Music Video: "Not on the Test"

How can we get fairer, more comprehensive measurements of our kids' academic achievement?

All the scorched-earth essays in the world can't completely illustrate the quiet damage done by the current regime of high-stakes testing in our country's public schools. I could (and will at times) go on and on about how overemphasizing the Test leads to narrowed curriculum, mislabeled and discouraged students, militaristic school environments, teachers disillusioned by stat games...

But sometimes, a song can deliver a message better than anything else. Enjoy Tom Chapin's tune, "Not on the Test."

Feel free to post reactions in the comments section.

Follow Dan Brown on Twitter: www.twitter.com/danbrownteacher

Comments

[Dem02020]

Among the terrible fall-out to this disasterous misguided scheme of tieing standardized test scores to Federal funds, is this dirty little secret (that many school administrators know, but few are talking publicly about):

In order to keep those scores up there, and keep them from falling, school administrators are allowing (with little or no resistance) under-achievers, and those most likely to score poorly on the standardized test, to leave school and drop out.

It's what's behind the sudden and dramatic (and mysterious to all those who are not in-the-know) rise in drop-out rates.

Those under-achievers and others who might score poorly on the standardized test, not only bring a school district's test scores down, but they threaten that school district's Federal funding in so doing...

But of course you already knew that, didn't you, because it's a perfectly logical consequence of tieing Federal funding to performance on a standardized test, isn't it?

But did you know that those under-achievers and others who would do poorly on those tests, are being happily let go to drop-out of school, rather than try and retain them, and see your Federal funding threatened as your reward?

That's what's behind the extraordinarily high drop-out rates we're seeing of late... that's the dirty little secret too few school administrators are willing to publicly admit to.