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Tests have become 'pill' habit
Young suggests that Texas lawmakers ditch reform and choose recovery. For a start, they might take a look at Educating for Human Greatness.
by John Young
The 12-step process for recovery begins with admitting you have a problem, and realizing that tomorrow is a new day to start undoing it.
I’m pleased to announce to one and all that I have seen that new day.
It was on the faces of members of the Select Committee on Public School Accountability in October when convening for the last time at the State Capitol.
Really. If you think a thin black man placing his hand on the Lincoln Bible before a waiting nation is the dawn of something significant. Well . . .
Consider a bunch of Texas policymakers agreeing as one that 20-plus years of school reforms have been as counterproductive as they are productive.
Yes, this from the state that exported school reform to the masses: "If you liked sliced bread, this is better . . ."
The interim committee, comprised of lawmakers, business leaders and educators, said almost verbatim what I’ve heard teachers, parents and students say:
Texas’s system is overly dependent on one test. It is not geared toward tracking individual growth or institutional improvement. It is overly punitive toward schools. It does little to alert teachers to the needs of anyone but the lowest achievers, while narrowing the curriculum.
The committee agreed that the system relies too much on drum-roll moments that leave children and educators emotional wrecks. Do what the panel proposes, said State Rep. Rob Eissler, and we’d have “less Valium dispensed in lower grades.”
He speaks the language of a pill-popping society, and offers us a useful analogy. Except in this case the addiction isn't to pharmaceuticals but to standardized tests.
As with drugs, tests have a legitimate therapeutic function. But excess can be pathological. When it comes to testing, Texas is big on excess.
Well, hold onto your hat. I'm here to say that any educator would have leaped from his/her seat with a "huzzah" to hear this committee acknowledge the failures of Texas’ system. So, too, with the proposed alternatives. Key ingredients we can only hope state lawmakers embrace:
* Accreditation based on rolling averages of test scores rather than “gotcha” each spring based on a single set of tests. Schools would get credit for growth.
* A system of distinction for things that can’t be tested, like fine arts, work-force development and other things a community might deem important.
* A focus on individual student achievement within a template of postsecondary readiness.
* An end to the system that holds a child back based on a single test alone.
A breakthrough for this committee is the understanding that excessive pressure to pass standardized tests results in a quest for competence, rather than for excellence.
When passing is what matters rather pushing the envelope, expect maximum effort from some low achievers and minimal performance from those who are at or above grade level.
The committee also acknowledged that the state's punitive approach (anyone listening in Washington?) had caused schools to go into a crouch regarding what they teach and what they strive to be.
Once upon a time, schools were modeled to encourage students to stretch and reach. That still happens depending on the classroom, but nothing — nothing— the state does encourages it.
In its proposals, State Sen. Florence Shapiro, co-chairing the committee with Eissler, said "we wanted to emphasize the positive rather than the negative things."
The committee acknowledged the chasm between what schools are doing and what post-secondary institutions need. Yet in its reference to work-force needs it acknowledged that not every child will be going to college, and it's ridiculous for schools to comport themselves otherwise.
The only thing that bothers me about this process is that it could yield, yes, another set of "school reforms." You know, another pharmaceutical product.
I say we choose another term entirely. Ditch "reform." Choose "recovery."
— John Young
Waco Tribune
2009-01-12
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/opinion/stories/2009/01/12/01132009wacyoung.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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