High Stakes Testing

Exporting NYC's Education "Miracle": Buyer Beware!

Dan Brown | Posted 08.12.2008 | Politics

Read More: Public Schools, New York City Department of Education, John McCain, New York Sun, Michael Bloomberg, Achievement Gap, Bloomberg, Joel Klein, High-Stakes Testing, Education Reform, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Green, Politics News
Dan Brown

Since his election in 2001, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made narrowing the white-minority achievement gap in New York City his signature issue. After ...

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Illuminating Public Schools' Possibilities: "Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way"

Dan Brown | Posted 07.29.2008 | Living

Read More: No Child Left Behind, Aft, Education, Urban Education, Nclb, High-Stakes Testing, Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, Teachers, Education Reform, Nea, Brian Schultz, Project Citizen, Living News
Dan Brown

What happens when a teacher decides to disregard the canned standards and the stacks of test prep materials? Do the students wallow in ignorance, cheated out of a proper education by an "activist" teacher?

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First Lady Follies

Gerald Bracey | Posted 07.24.2008 | Home

Read More: No Child Left Behind, High-Stakes Testing, School Report Cards, Education, Kaura Bush, George W. Bush, Home News
Gerald Bracey

First Lady Follies Laura Bush says that, come what may, No Child Left Behind will be a part of her husband's legacy. Absolutely. Some of us think i...

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Public Schools Get a Boost Today: AFT Elects President Randi Weingarten

Dan Brown | Posted 07.14.2008 | Living

Read More: Public Schools, No Child Left Behind, Class Size, Edward McElroy, American Federation of Teachers, New Teachers, Public Education Reform, Randi Weingarten, United Federation of Teachers, Nclb, Standardized Testing, Aft, Uft, Teachers, Public Education, High Stakes Testing, Living News
Dan Brown

Today in Chicago, Randi Weingarten was elected president of the American Federation of Teachers, a union with a membership of over 1.4 million. Our c...

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Exclusive, Anonymous Book Excerpt: An Insider Reveals the "Drunks, Dingbats, and Dilettantes Who Write & Score America's Standardized Tests"

Dan Brown | Posted 06.13.2008 | Media

Read More: Public Schools, High-Stakes Testing, Standardized Testing, Education, Publishing Companies, Education Reform, Education Policy, Media News
Dan Brown

I am highly critical of the current use of standardized tests in American public schools. While testing certainly deserves a place in the world, I bel...

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Obama's Education Speech Fired Me Up

Dan Brown | Posted 06.02.2008 | Politics

Read More: Public Schools, No Child Left Behind, Mentors, Education, Student Achievement, Teacher Residency Programs, Nclb, Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts, Standardized Testing, High-Stakes Testing, Barack Obama, Denver Post, Politics News
Dan Brown

Last week in Colorado, Barack Obama gave a truly incisive speech on improving education in America.

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Beyond "The Big Test": A Brilliant Idea to Improve Schools

Dan Brown | Posted 05.28.2008 | Living

Read More: Fairtest, No Child Left Behind, Public Schools, Testing, Essential Schools, Boston Globe, Assessment, Coalition for Essential Schools, Ces, Standardized Testing, High-Stakes Testing, Teachers, National Exhibition Month, Ted Sizer, Living News
Dan Brown

If a brilliant idea slapped us in the face for how to help public school students achieve more, would we recognize it? Today, schools' everyday funct...

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Watch and Join a Heated Three-Minute Education Debate

Dan Brown | Posted 05.23.2008 | Politics

Read More: Partnership for Learning, Public Schools, Wendy Kopp, Performance Pay, No Child Left Behind, High-Stakes Testing, Robert Pondiscio, Teacher Quality, Core Knowledge, Teach for America, Ascd, Student Achievement, Amy Wilkins, American Federation of Teachers, Education Policy, Ed in 08 Blogger Summit, Student Assessment, Standardized Testing, Ed in 08, Teaching in the 408, Teachers, Education Reform, Public Education, Politics News
Dan Brown

At last week's Ed in '08 Blogger Summit, I asked a question about alternatives to high-stakes testing to the education policy panel and received an an...

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Civil Disobedience: South Bronx 8th-Graders Refuse the TEST! (I'm Impressed.)

Dan Brown | Posted 05.21.2008 | Living

Read More: No Child Left Behind, New York City Public Schools, Public Schools, Student Achievement, Education Policy, High-Stakes Testing, School Accountability, Standardized Testing, Douglas Avella, South Bronx, I.S. 318, Living News
Dan Brown

High-stakes testing has spiraled out of control and students are wise to the scheme. The reason we haven't seen more uprisings is that kids have been intellectually and spiritually bludgeoned into submission.

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Memo to Democrats: Talk More About Education

Dan Brown | Posted 05.12.2008 | Politics

Read More: Public Schools, Democratic Primary, Education, Barack Obama, No Child Left Behind, George W. Bush, Arizona, Democrats, George Miller, High Stakes Testing, Nclb, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Republicans, Politics News
Dan Brown

McCain's threadbare talking points on education offer prime ammunition for Democrats to help define his candidacy as Bush's third term.

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

Dan Brown | Posted 04.23.2008 | Living

Read More: Public Schools, No Child Left Behind, High-Stakes Testing, Standardized Testing, Not on the Test, Student Achievement, Nation at Risk, Ton Chapin, Living News
Dan Brown

How can we get fairer, more comprehensive measurements of our kids' academic achievement? All the scorched-earth essays in the world can't completely...

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School Accountability: NYC Sets the Tone, For Better or Worse

Dan Brown | Posted 03.18.2008 | Politics

Read More: No Child Left Behind, New York City Public Schools, Education, Department of Education, Randi Weingarten, United Federation of Teachers, Michael Bloomberg, Nclb, Joel Klein, Standardized Testing, School Accountability, Uft, High-Stakes Testing, Teachers, Public Education, New York City Education, Politics News
Dan Brown

Life and education are too complicated for single letter grades. A smarter, nuanced alternative is within New York's grasp.

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If I Had the Clout of High-Stakes Testing...

Dan Brown | Posted 01.24.2008 | Politics

Read More: Public Schools Education Reform, Teacher Union, Education, Randi Weingarten, United Federation of Teachers, Michael Bloomberg, Joel Klein, Standardized Testing, High-Stakes Testing, New York City, Uft, Politics News
Dan Brown

So what if some kids are being trained to equate a successful year in school with barely passing a standardized exam, and nothing more?

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New York City Teachers Agree to Performance Pay, And I Have a Problem With It

Dan Brown | Posted 12.20.2007 | Politics

Read More: Testing, Education, Public Education Reform, Michael Bloomberg, Merit Pay, Joel Klein, Standardized Testing, High-Stakes Testing, Teachers, New York City, Politics News
Dan Brown

The rules of this multiple-choice game are not transferable to the greater world. Such a depersonalized system should not rule education, a wholly human institution.

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High-Stakes Testing Arrives in Kindergarten

Dan Brown | Posted 12.07.2007 | Politics

Read More: Time Out From Testing, High-Stakes Testing, Standardized Testing, Jane Hirschmann, New York City Board of Education, Bracken School Readiness Assessment, Kindergarten, Politics News
Dan Brown

High-stakes testing for young children does more harm than good. To bring this practice to kindergarten is unconscionable.

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This Just in: Pleasure Reading Makes a World of Difference

Dan Brown | Posted 11.20.2007 | Living

Read More: No Child Left Behind, Literacy, Education, High-Stakes Testing, Standardized Testing, Mcgraw-Hill, National Endowment for the Arts, Reading, To Read or Not to Read, Nea, Living News
Dan Brown

Education laws in America, most prominently No Child Left Behind, have turned away from encouraging kids to read and have put focus on constantly testing proficiency. This obsession has not paid off with results.

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New York City Schools Receive Misleading Report Cards

Dan Brown | Posted 11.12.2007 | Politics

Read More: School Report Cards, Education, Education Policy, Randi Weingarten, United Federation of Teachers, No Child Left Behind, Michael Bloomberg, School Reform, Standardized Testing, High Stakes Testing, New York City, Politics News
Dan Brown

New York City has led the charge into a dangerous era of importing statistics-driven paradigms from the business sphere. These mechanistic models are an ill fit in education, a wholly human institution.

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A Spooky Halloween Poem (By an Eighth Grader!)

Dan Brown | Posted 10.31.2007 | Living

Read More: Education, Assessment, Harlem, Standardized Testing, High-Stakes Testing, Halloween, Middle School, Poetry, Poem, New York City, Arts Education, Living News
Dan Brown

Your breathing becomes rapid but you don't dare move / It rests on your shoulder no longer than a sec / You close your eyes in prayer / Then it locks around your neck!

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Bob Herbert Gets High-Stakes Testing Right

Dan Brown | Posted 10.10.2007 | Politics

Read More: Public Schools, No Child Left Behind, Education, Nclb, Bob Herbert, Fordham Institute, New York Times, High Stakes Testing, Politics News
Dan Brown

The current culture of living and dying with the all-important test has thus led to widespread bar-lowering, and obsessing.

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The School Accountability Trap

Dan Brown | Posted 09.20.2007 | Politics

Read More: Public Schools, Testing, Education, No Child Left Behind, Standardized Testing, Jonathan Kozol, High Stakes Testing, No Child Left Behind Reauthorization, Politics News
Dan Brown

The definition of the word "accountability" is under attack by interests with an eye for pumping up statistics rather than students' actual learning.

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