Fwd: [ARN-state] Re: [arn-l] This IS a Test

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>
> Date: Mon Mar 31, 2008  10:58:58 AM US/Pacific
> To: <arn-l@interversity.org>, "ARN State" <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>, 
> "arn2-strategy" <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [ARN-state] Re: [arn-l] This IS a Test
> Reply-To: ARN-state@yahoogroups.com
>
> The long history of tracking in the US also suggests that students who 
> enter
> pre-K or K "behind" will be assumed to be less capable of learning and 
> thus
> put in "slower" classes through which the gap in learning outcomes will
> expand. "Intelligence" tests have long played that pernicious role,
> complemented by "achievement" tests. Through these instruments, race 
> and
> class effects are instrumentalized as "scientific" or "objective."
>
> What Finland suggests is that there is simply no need to cram 
> pre-reading
> "skills" down the throats of unready little children, or to turn
> kindergartens into drill sites. Deb Meier has been traveling around the
> country, sadly noting the disappearance of 'play' in kindergartens. 
> But the
> tracking effect will compound early differences. Parents often grasp 
> these
> realities, and so see the "need" to push their children into these
> academicized programs - a need based not in real learning or in 
> whether kids
> could rapdly 'catch up' at say age 7 (as in effect Finnish youth do), 
> but in
> the tracking that will make it ever more difficult for those deemed 
> behind
> to catch up.
>
> Of course, NCLB was going to end that. For those still willing to 
> purchase
> that illusion, read the consequences of high stakes testing in Texas, 
> Linda
> McNeil et al's probing analysis http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v16n3/ . Yes, 
> it is
> high school they focus on, but voluminous literature shows the effects 
> of
> high stakes testing and tracking.
>
> Monty
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Campbell" <campbellp@mail.montclair.edu>
> To: "ARN State" <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>; "ARN Main List"
> <arn-l@interversity.org>; "arn2-strategy" 
> <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 2:18 PM
> Subject: [arn-l] This IS a Test
>
>
> > The test that my daughter was asked to take in the week before she
> > started pre-Kindergarten was a recognition of the huge gulf that
> > separates the haves from the have nots in this country. The district
> > would argue that this wasn't a test per se, but rather a "benchmark," 
> >  a
> > means by which the teacher could identify what students' strengths  
> > and
> > weaknesses were.
> >
> > But what 4-year-old enters pre-Kindergarten knowing how to write his  
> > or
> > her name?
> >
> > The answer: probably not many, but there's an increasing likelihood  
> > that
> > some will. And, given the trends, more and more will.
> >
> > So what will the socioeconomic profile be for these extremely  
> > precocious
> > children?
> >
> > The answer: not hard to guess. Parents that can afford to send their  
> > kids
> > to academically-oriented preschool will have "the upper hand,"  
> > they'll
> > have "the edge" over the other kids. Their kids will have  been given 
> > "a
> > head start."
> >
> > What are the implications of this?
> >
> > The answer: also not hard to guess. Parents will be expected to to  
> > teach
> > their children to acquire these precocious skills themselves or  they 
> > will
> > be expected to pay others to do it for them. Those parents  that 
> > cannot do
> > this themselves or that cannot afford to pay someone  to do it for 
> > them
> > will be regarded as deficient if not negligent.
> >
> > Low-income parents are already sufficiently vilified in our society.  
> > Now
> > they are being cudgeled even further. As the saying goes, "The  
> > beatings
> > will continue until morale improves."
> >
> > --
> > Posted By Peter Campbell to Transform Education
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
>     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ARN-state/
>
> <*> Your email settings:
>     Individual Email | Traditional
>
> <*> To change settings online go to:
>     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ARN-state/join
>     (Yahoo! ID required)
>
> <*> To change settings via email:
>     mailto:ARN-state-digest@yahoogroups.com
>     mailto:ARN-state-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
>
> <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>     ARN-state-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
>     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll
http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F
Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!