Fwd: [ARN-state] FairTest USA Today Column on State Graduation Exams

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
> Date: Tue Jul 25, 2006  9:31:24 AM US/Pacific
> To: ARN Main List <arn-l@interversity.org>,  arn2-strategy 
> <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>, ARN State 
> <ARN-state@yahoogroups.com>, CARE List <care@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [ARN-state] FairTest USA Today Column on State Graduation 
> Exams
> Reply-To: ARN-state@yahoogroups.com
>
> This morning's USA Today, the nation's largest circulation daily,
> features a response from Monty Neill to the paper's "stay the course"
> editorial endorsing high school graduation exams.
>
> To support the work that makes it possible to balance the testing
> debate, please consider making a tax deductible contribution online at:
>
> https://secure.entango.com/servlet/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk
>
> or by sending a check to: FairTest, 342 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
>
>
>
> LET STUDENTS GRADUATE:
> STATE TESTS UNFAIRLY PENALIZE BORDERLINE SENIORS; TRY OTHER ASSESSMENT
> OPTIONS
> USA Today Editorial Response -- July 25, 2006
> by Monty Neill
>
> Recent studies reinforce the conclusion that graduation tests increase
> the dropout rate. The harder the test, the more kids drop out. Across
> the USA, high-stakes tests push at least 40,000 young men and women out
> of school each year.
>
> Some say this is an acceptable price to pay for improving schools. But
> denying borderline students the benefit of a diploma hurts both these
> young people and our country. A teenager with a weak education and a
> diploma can still get a job and become a contributing member of 
> society.
> Without a diploma, the constructive options are severely limited.
>
> That leaves the question of whether high-stakes testing improves
> learning for students who remain in school. Proponents claim that 
> rising
> scores on state exams prove the policy works. Unfortunately, those 
> gains
> largely stem from teachers drilling the narrow content of the state
> tests. On broader measures, such as the Grade 12 National Assessment of
> Educational Progress, reading and math scores have not budged.
>
> Why the negative results? Teaching to graduation tests dumbs down
> curriculum and instruction. Reading exams focus on easily testable
> skills, not comprehension. Math tests emphasize routine procedures but
> fail to tap the problem-solving abilities students really need. Writing
> tests reduce that vital skill to cranking out a “five-paragraph essay” 
> —
> a format used only on standardized tests. As a result, many students do
> not learn to think, apply knowledge, engage in research, write
> substantial papers or speak coherently.
>
> The only people helped by imposing these damaging exams are the
> politicians who pretend that they are doing something cheap and simple
> to improve educational quality.
>
> A better alternative is to strengthen educators' assessment skills. 
> With
> smaller class sizes and deeper professional development, teachers can
> provide more meaningful evidence of student achievement to determine
> readiness for graduation. College admissions officers and employers 
> know
> this information is more useful than any test score is.
>
> Improving classroom-assessment quality might sound like a more complex
> route to school reform. But it is much more likely to be successful 
> than
> the failed path of one-size-fits-all graduation exams.
>
> Monty Neill is executive director of the National Center for Fair & 
> Open
> Testing (FairTest), based in Cambridge, Mass
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060725/oppose25.art.htm
>
> The USA Today editorial to which Monty is responding is online at:
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060725/edit25.art.htm
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
> Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups.  See the new email design.
> http://us.click.yahoo.com/SktRrD/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/xYTolB/TM
> --------------------------------------------------------------------~->
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
>     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ARN-state/
>
> <*> 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/