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Interversity Quotes"I think it's time to ask the Standardistos: Where's the test for compassion? For honesty? For curiosity? For moral commitment? Until they can answer, let's tell them to shut up." —Susan Ohanian (One Size Fits Few: The Folly of Educational Standards) Interversity ProjectsEchoes of Orwell:The purpose of this webforum is to promote a lively discussion among students and faculty alike about George Orwell's 1984 and the parallels or echoes found in today's society. |
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] Britain: high stakes testing harmful, says new report
Britain: high stakes testing harmful, says new report. [One might compare this report with the two stories on Scandanavia just circulated.] Guardian story covered 2 reports, focusing one on disparate expenditures between elementary and secondary and failure to ensure strong outcomes at elementary. Second report focused on testing, with Guardian summarizing: A second report, by academics at Cambridge and Manchester Metropolitan Universities, said: "The evidence on the impact of the various initiatives on standards of pupil attainment is at best equivocal and at worst negative. While test scores have risen since the mid-1990s, this has been achieved at the expense of children's entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum and by the diversion of considerable teaching time to test preparation." [Note: scores rising on the test taught to may well be inflation and no indication of real improvement even in tested subjects.] It surveyed data on national testing and concluded that the "high stakes" testing has led to a "narrowing of the curriculum". It added: "There is also evidence that the quality of the teacher-pupil interaction has been negatively influenced." http://education.guardian.co.uk/primaryeducation/story/0,,2261008,00.html The BBC focused more on testing, with some overlap of sections of the report covered, but adding: However, it found "a decrease in the overall quality of primary education experienced by pupils because of the narrowing of the curriculum and the intensity of test preparation". BBC also said the report on testing looked at national standards and creation of a "state theory of learning". "The evidence on the impact of the various initiatives on standards of pupil attainment is at best equivocal and at worst negative." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7268778.stm Monty Neill, Ed.D. Deputy Director FairTest 342 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02139 617-864-4810 x 101; fax 617-497-2224 monty@fairtest.org http://www.fairtest.org Donate: https://secure.entango.com/servlet/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk
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