Alfie Kohn Victory for Education

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

> A victory for education
> By Adrian Walker, Globe Columnist | August 7, 2006
> Boston Globe
> Alfie Kohn isn't expecting a check in the mail, 
> or a bouquet from the people who run the Massachusetts Department of Education.
>
> Nevertheless, victory was sweet last week for 
> the prolific education author. Superior Court 
> Judge Hiller B. Zobel ruled last week that the 
> DOE violated Kohn's civil rights by blocking him 
> from speaking at an education conference in 2001.
>
> Kohn had been booked to speak on standardized 
> testing. The department, which had funded the 
> conference, threatened to withdraw its money if Kohn was allowed to speak.
>
> Kohn's offense was that he is an outspoken 
> opponent of high-stakes testing generally, and 
> of the MCAS specifically. Public support for the 
> exam was wobbly five years ago, which might 
> explain why it was so important to keep him away 
> from a microphone. Though uninvited from the 
> conference, Kohn was paid his $5,000 fee -- 
> paid, in effect, not to speak. The American 
> Civil Liberties Union sued the department on 
> behalf of Kohn and some of the conference 
> organizers who had invited him. The suit ``was 
> never about my honorarium, it was about the 
> First Amendment," Kohn said yesterday. ``The 
> judge is now going to craft an injunction which 
> specifies exactly what the Department of 
> Education must do or can't do in the future, as 
> a result of having been liable for trying to silence dissent."
>
> Kohn made it clear that his opinion of tests 
> such as the MCAS has not changed one bit in the 
> past five years. He argues that such tests 
> short-circuit real teaching and learning.
>
> ``It remains a test that measures what matters 
> least about learning, and the damage it does 
> because of its high-stake status is 
> incalculable, both to the students who are 
> forced out of school without a diploma because 
> they don't think they can pass and how it 
> displaces meaningful learning," he said.
>
> ``Starting in the primary grades, teachers feel 
> compelled to help kids prepare for a 
> standardized test instead of becoming deep thinkers."
>
> Certainly, there are lots of divergent views on 
> the value of the MCAS. But the state went too 
> far, way too far, in basically demanding that a critic shut up.
>
> MCAS may have become less controversial over the 
> years. The vast majority of students pass it, 
> for one thing, and it has gradually become part 
> of the educational landscape, the way charter schools have.
>
> Kohn worries, though, about the students who 
> drop out of school because they don't think they 
> will ever pass it. Worth worrying about, too, is 
> the political environment that makes such 
> testing popular. I've listened to plenty of 
> politicians demonize teachers and make 
> pronouncements about ``accountability" when it 
> was obvious that they had given little thought 
> to what makes education work. All too often, it becomes a buzzword.
>
> ``If you don't know much about education, it 
> sounds reasonable at first hearing to say we 
> want to hold schools accountable for giving our 
> kids an excellent education," Kohn said. ``In 
> the abstract, so do I. So does everyone. If you 
> don't know much about how to assess the quality 
> of teaching and learning, you may be snookered 
> into believing that standardized tests are a 
> measure and that high-stakes testing keeps 
> teachers on the straight and narrow."
>
> The Department of Education, for the record, has 
> always denied that it was trying to keep Kohn 
> from talking, stating that the conference was 
> about other topics. Kohn scoffs at that notion, and Zobel rejected it as well.
>
> Kohn speculates that the MCAS may have mobilized 
> opposition to high-stakes testing. If enough 
> parents complain and want to opt out, then the 
> test could be in jeopardy. That's an advocate 
> speaking, not an analyst; the MCAS isn't going anyplace.
>
> Just the same, the debate over high-stakes 
> testing and its consequences for children is 
> well worth having, even now. Government should 
> encourage debate, not stifle it. Kohn's was a 
> victory for free exchange of ideas. I think that makes it a win for education.
>
> Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be 
> reached at <mailto:walker@globe.com>walker@globe.com
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