On Apr 14, 2010, at 8:52 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> Two things. 1) Measuring learning 2) Measuring the teacher by the
> results of national tests
Minor point: teachers are measured by state tests, on which states now cheat like crazy. For example, New York's tests have been showing great progress, but the national tests show none. Ravitch is very good on this.
> The second is pernicious with no redeeming features, as are most
> measuresd instistuted for thecontrol of the labor force and increasing
> management flexibility.
Yeah. Testing is an excuse for firing teachers and closing and/or privatizing public schools. It doesn't have much to do with assessing educational progress.
This isn't about college, which is what Miles was talking about, but the consensus of the education pundits is that Finland has the world's best system. Finnish students take three tests during their entire primary and secondary school career. No other country tests as much as we do. But we score quite poorly on internationally comparable tests.
Doug