Re: Excellent Op. Ed.

["PRISCILLA GUTIERREZ" <pgutpgut@msn.com>]

It would seem that Jean Anyon's 1980 article in The Journal of Education, 
"Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" is as relevant today, if 
not more so, than when it first appeared.

Her latest article which appeared in the Spring, 2005 edition of Harvard 
Educational Review, "What 'Counts' as Educational Policy?  Notes Toward a 
New Paradigm" is also an excellent analysis of how policy over the past 75 
years has impacted the social and economic opportunities of the urban poor.



Priscilla Gutierrez
Outreach Specialist
New Mexico School for the Deaf

....change is inevitable, growth is optional...





> From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
> Reply-To: arn-l@interversity.org
> To: ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>,ARN State 
> <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [arn-l] Excellent Op. Ed.
> Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:12:07 -0400
>
> Standardized tests can send students who fail into tailspin
> Rochester Democrat & Chronicle -- October 18, 2006
> by Dan Drmacich --Guest essayist
>
>
> The drumbeat of our state Regents testing policy and our federal No Child 
> Left Behind Act echoed loud and clear in the Democrat and Chronicle's Sept. 
> 22 and Oct. 12 stories on test results. Reading between the lines of the 
> scoring data and accompanying stories of how schools are focusing their 
> curricula to help students pass Regents tests # leads me to several 
> critical conclusions: Students in families with higher family incomes 
> generally have higher test scores than those from poorer families. One of 
> the many critical reports substantiating this conclusion is the 2003 
> Metropolitan Life Teacher Assessment that low-income children have at least 
> 16 critical variables to deal with that negatively impact test scores. 
> These include family dysfunction and children entering kindergarten with 
> low vocabulary levels.
>
> Instead of requiring the same levels of testing performance from all 
> students and publicly ranking schools that have minimal control over 
> testing outcomes, wouldn't it make more sense for the state and federal 
> governments to promote individual student growth and development? This 
> change could be partially accomplished by never making test results public. 
> The purpose of testing should be to help students grow academically, not to 
> coerce higher test performances through public scrutiny and humiliation.
>
> State and federal education departments also need to rely on more 
> authentic, valid assessments, such as the number of books students 
> comprehend, oral presentation results and portfolio demonstrations. Volumes 
> of research prove that subjective teacher assessment is a much more 
> accurate predictor of student success than any single standardized test 
> score.
>
> # The goal of having all students score above average on any standardized 
> test is impossible. Few educators, politicians and even Board of Regents 
> members understand that test writers construct standardized tests for the 
> purpose of creating a wide range of scores, with roughly half the test 
> takers scoring above average and the other half below. One might conclude 
> that the public has been snookered into believing that education reform 
> through testing will lead to more students scoring above average on state 
> tests. Ironically, the very tests used by our state to measure student 
> results prevent equality of performance.
> # Standardized test scores do not give the public an accurate picture of 
> how well schools are preparing students as citizens and leaders. Many New 
> York state citizens who were poor test-takers have had successful college 
> careers and hold prominent professional positions. Others have gone on to 
> successful vocational careers and demonstrated success as leaders, parents 
> and neighbors. Research has shown that success is not so dependent on IQ as 
> it is upon an individual's EQ (emotional quotient). Characteristics, 
> impossible to measure on standardized tests, such as leadership, 
> perseverance, listening skills and compassion, are far more accurate 
> predictors of success. More than 700 colleges have recognized this 
> research, and consequently made the Scholastic Aptitude Tests optional for 
> student admission.
> # The emphasis on high-stakes standardized testing is creating a culture of 
> failure among many students, especially in urban areas. Imagine for a 
> moment how a student might feel with a curriculum dominated by test 
> preparation, a routine many students find not very interesting. Also, 
> consider how some students might feel after their low test scores are 
> shared and compared publicly to those of higher-scoring students. Some 
> students may be learning to feel hopeless.
>
> Students who are poor, who are from English-as-a-second-language families, 
> who have special education needs, who desire to have a vocational education 
> or who have unique interests or learning styles, have suffered under the 
> one-size-fits-all Regents education process. Even those students who do 
> well on Regents tests suffer because they are often denied the 
> opportunities to focus their studies on areas of personal interest, 
> citizenship and other lifelong-learning skills.
>
> <>Each person who agrees should voice his or her concerns to school 
> district officials, state and federal representatives. Only through active 
> citizenship can we create an education system that truly meets the needs of 
> our students and our society.
> #
>
> # <>Drmacich is principal, School Without Walls in the Rochester School 
> District.E-mail him at Daniel.Drmacich@RCSDK12.org 
> <mailto:Daniel.Drmacich@RCSDK12.org>.
>     
> http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061018/OPINION02/610180329/1039/OPINION
> -------------------------------------------------------
> ARN-L archives:
> http://interversity.org/lists/arn-l/archives.html