Schools for Tomorrow Blog

How much testing do we need?

Now before you accountability absolutists start hyperventilating, rest assured that I’m not one of those bleeding hearts who wants to abolish CSAPs because they traumatize sensitive 4th graders with iffy math skills, cost millions or tempt jumpy principals to flirt with bribery.

What I wonder about, though, is whether we’re learning anything new from standardized tests.

August is a time to look forward, with school starting, but it’s also the month to look back, because it’s test results season.

The 2008 CSAP results were released a couple of weeks ago, the national ACT results came out Wednesday and the annual SAT report is coming soon.

Because we Americans are addicted to stats and scores (just listen to those announcers at the Olympics), every release of test results is parsed exhaustively. Gains of a few tenths of a percent at the local elementary school are hailed as encouraging progress, and comparisons are…

Not a good sign that the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and Denver Public Schools keep taking shots at each other publicly. This latest letter from DCTA prez Kim Ursetta, posted on her blog, has an unmistakably angry tone. 

And Kim, you get only a "partially proficient" in spelling. You misspelled the superintendent’s last name throughout your letter.

There was a compelling - and overlooked - perspective in the Denver Post by the ever-interesting Marguerite Roza on how productivity has transformed most American workplaces and some suggestions on applications to education. HERE is the piece.