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Opting Out of Standardized Tests

The Atlantic’s Alexander Russo reports that a growing number of parents are pulling their students from standardized tests: Teachers at Seattle’s Garfield High School voted unanimously earlier this year not to give the district’s required reading and math test. They encountered predictable resistance from district officials and harsh criticism from outside observers. Many students and […]

November 14, 2013/by dpogreba

Against Specialization

Daily Wisdom

Robert Twigger argues that we need to stop treating those who excel in one area (monomaths) and give more credit to those who are generalists, interested in and interesting about many subjects: Polymaths such as Da Vinci, Goethe and Benjamin Franklin were such high achievers that we might feel a bit reluctant to use the […]

November 13, 2013/by dpogreba

Opting Out of Standardized Tests

Daily Wisdom

November 14, 2013/by dpogreba

Against Specialization

Daily Wisdom

November 13, 2013/by dpogreba

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Opting Out of Standardized Tests

Daily Wisdom

The Atlantic’s Alexander Russo reports that a growing number of parents are pulling their students from standardized tests:

Teachers at Seattle’s Garfield High School voted unanimously earlier this year not to give the district’s required reading and math test. They encountered predictable resistance from district officials and harsh criticism from outside observers. Many students and parents, however, sided with the teachers.

The PTA and student government leaders voted in support of the teachers, and many parents sent in “opt-out” letters to exempt their children from testing that they viewed as an inappropriate measure of teachers’ effectiveness. And so when administrators came to class with lists of kids who needed to take the tests during the spring testing period, many students were exempted and others students simply refused to go with the administrators.

There was “the most incredible sense of solidarity in the building,” recalls Garfield history teacher Jesse Hagopian.

Parents who opt out generally do so out of concern that too much time is being taken with testing (and test preparations), that tests are not reliable or valid measures of what students know, and that tests are being used to rate schools, teachers, and students in ways that aren’t fair.

This past year has shown an “unprecedented surge” of parents, teachers, and students revolting against standardized testing, according to Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, a Ford Foundation-funded nonprofit.

November 14, 2013/by dpogreba

Against Specialization

Daily Wisdom

Robert Twigger argues that we need to stop treating those who excel in one area (monomaths) and give more credit to those who are generalists, interested in and interesting about many subjects:

Polymaths such as Da Vinci, Goethe and Benjamin Franklin were such high achievers that we might feel a bit reluctant to use the word ‘polymath’ to describe our own humble attempts to become multi-talented. We can’t all be geniuses. But we do all still indulge in polymathic activity; it’s part of what makes us human.

So, say that we all have at least the potential to become polymaths. Once we have a word, we can see the world more clearly. And that’s when we notice a huge cognitive dissonance at the centre of Western culture: a huge confusion about how new ideas, new discoveries, and new art actually come about.

November 13, 2013/by dpogreba