Child centered vs. test centered....

I participated in discussion with a high stakes testing advocate on the Daily Kos diary: Chicago Public Schools Meltdown. Here is a portion of what I wrote after the advocate asked me for data supporting my claim that high stakes testing is a poor way to assess children.

"Prove to me...that standardized testing is good for America. Last time I checked, after 30 years of standardized education and 12 years of high stakes testing, 26% of children in America are living in poverty, gap between rich and poor is the largest it has ever been, US wages have stagnated while productivity has dramatically increased and creative learning opportunities in our schools is on the decline."

Standardized tests ensure that the child is central to the decision-making process, because we test the child.

ManhattanMan this statement reveals a deficit in your understanding of what it takes to optimize learning experience for a group of heterogeneous learners.

It also reveals you are an advocate for corporate test publishing companies or other corporate interests related to corporate education rephorm.

Children are not in control of their educational experiences when testing companies dictate to them what they will learn, how they will learn it and when they will learn it. Problem is...children learn at different rates and in different modalities.

 What you are prescribing is Pavlovian Behaviorism for other peoples children.

Bad, bad, bad...

You disrespect teachers who work in incredibly difficult circumstances.

Here is your data...I've got a ton more.

I have observed thousands of children who are not motivated to experience or participate in standardized learning experience and do not take their tests seriously.

Then their are other children who are driven to tears because they do not deal with the stress caused by your damned tests, many of whom end up hating school and end up dropping out.

We know their is a concerted effort to destroy public education in America by those who profit from standardized testing.

I consider you as one who is aligned with the corporate rheeform movement.