Comment on “A Union Firebrand Speaks Out On Politics, Testing And More” NPR interview with Lily Eskelsen Garcia
Posted at http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/04/20/474369584/a-union-firebrand-speaks-out-on-politics-testing-and-more
The new education law does indeed appear an attempt to calm down our national testing hysteria. Even President Obama has spoken out about the negative impact of over-testing. Some of this is of course due to the impact of the opt-out movement.
But the testing industry is striking back, with the full cooperation of the US government: The new plan is to replace end-of-year standardized tests with what could be daily testing. The core of education will consist of modules of programmed instruction that students will work through online and be tested on, which will drastically diminish the role of teachers and increase profits of technology companies. The new education law announced grants for the development of these teach-and-test machines (see sections 1201 and 1204).
The National Governor’s Association has admitted that there is little evidence supporting this major shift to what they call “competency-based education,” yet has enthusiastically supported it.
It looks like things will be much worse, not better.
For more on competency-based education, please see:
McDermott, M., Robertson. P.,and Krashen, S. 2016. Testing All The Time? Language Magazine, January 16. http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=125014;
Steven M. Singer, Standardized Tests Every Day: the Competency Based Education Scam. http://tinyurl.com/j8s2tuh
Emily Talmage, Warning: Gates is Infiltrating Opt Out. http://emilytalmage.com/2016/01/05/warning-gates-is-infiltrating-opt-out/
Morna McDermott, Reading between the lines. http://educationalchemy.com/2015/10/25/reading-between-the-lines-obamas-testing-action-plan/)
Peggy Robertson, Opt-out revolution, the next wave. http://www.pegwithpen.com/2015/10/opt-out-revolution-next-wave.html
Posted at http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/04/20/474369584/a-union-firebrand-speaks-out-on-politics-testing-and-more
The new education law does indeed appear an attempt to calm down our national testing hysteria. Even President Obama has spoken out about the negative impact of over-testing. Some of this is of course due to the impact of the opt-out movement.
But the testing industry is striking back, with the full cooperation of the US government: The new plan is to replace end-of-year standardized tests with what could be daily testing. The core of education will consist of modules of programmed instruction that students will work through online and be tested on, which will drastically diminish the role of teachers and increase profits of technology companies. The new education law announced grants for the development of these teach-and-test machines (see sections 1201 and 1204).
The National Governor’s Association has admitted that there is little evidence supporting this major shift to what they call “competency-based education,” yet has enthusiastically supported it.
It looks like things will be much worse, not better.
For more on competency-based education, please see:
McDermott, M., Robertson. P.,and Krashen, S. 2016. Testing All The Time? Language Magazine, January 16. http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=125014;
Steven M. Singer, Standardized Tests Every Day: the Competency Based Education Scam. http://tinyurl.com/j8s2tuh
Emily Talmage, Warning: Gates is Infiltrating Opt Out. http://emilytalmage.com/2016/01/05/warning-gates-is-infiltrating-opt-out/
Morna McDermott, Reading between the lines. http://educationalchemy.com/2015/10/25/reading-between-the-lines-obamas-testing-action-plan/)
Peggy Robertson, Opt-out revolution, the next wave. http://www.pegwithpen.com/2015/10/opt-out-revolution-next-wave.html
Ahhhh....daily testing. More computerized teaching, less actual edification and MUCH more money for the tech giants. :(
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