Excellent New York Times Letter-to-the-Editor

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

This submission by our good NYC friend and ally Ann Cook demonstrates 
how much persuasive information can be packed into a brief letter

TEACH MORE. TEST LESS
New York Times Letters -- September 29, 2006


To the Editor:

Re “English Scores Drop Sharply in 6th Grade” (front page, Sept. 22):

What more conclusive proof is needed about the bankrupt policies of the 
state education commissioner, Richard P. Mills, and those who claim that 
the answer to high standards and quality education is testing, testing, 
and more testing?

Young children may be compliant and try to please their elders by doing 
as they’re told, filling in blanks and practicing drills. But older 
children need better reasons than “because I told you so.”

Countless test-prep drills on multiple-choice worksheets, truncated 
reading passages and “granular” approaches to learning an 
ever-increasing list of sub-skills do not nurture a desire for learning.

In fact, as we’ve seen, it turns kids off, destroys opportunities for 
real involvement in learning and eliminates the chance to grapple with 
powerful ideas in a classroom.

Failing test scores are the legacy of a narrow joyless approach to 
learning.

Let’s finally connect the dots.

Ann Cook
New York, Sept. 22, 2006
The writer is co-chairwoman of the New York Performance Standards 
Consortium.