Teachers as ‘Clutch Performers’
It's not just for athletes: let's see how teachers can step up to deliver clutch performances under pressure....
testing
School Accountability, the California Way
California just made school accountability more complicated. And that's good....
BREAKING: Education Department Shifts Course on Testing
The Education Department put out a press release today signaling a noteworthy shift in their education policies pertaining to standardized testing; it looks like the kind of change many of us have bee...
A True Reformer Steps Down to Fight On
No one can say Carol Burris was against standards, against accountability, or afraid of scrutiny in her own practices. They certainly can't say she wasn't outstanding at her job. Her departure is a lo...
Make Time for ‘Defies Measurement’ (full review)
In "Defies Measurement," Shannon Puckett has produced a documentary that illustrates what has been lost, and what we stand to lose, through the misuse of standardized test results to drive education r...
Focus on Testing Reflects Eugenics Legacy
We are the inheritors of a complex history, some of it quite negative; the heavy stone of the American eugenics movement may have sunk to the bottom of the lake, but the ripples travel on whether or n...
Two, four, six, eight! Sorry tests are not that great!
If students can't do their best work unless adults hop, skip, strut, twist and shout about the test, we're doing something quite wrong in assessment, and in our messaging about education. ...
Crime and Punishment for Atlanta Educators
As a teacher, I do not tolerate cheating by my students, but I also take responsibility for creating assessment conditions that minimize cheating. Will any policy makers accept responsibility for the ...
Does Political “Cover” Produce Effective Policy?
We don't go into teaching to raise test scores; we go into teaching to promote a much wider variety of skills that are poorly measured by tests, if they're measured at all....
Greene: Testing is Not Accountability
Because after all, what else to kids need in life besides being proficient or above on a bubble test?...