Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch are two of our favorite education writers and activists so we were pleased to receive the following from Monty Neill:
Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch share the invaluable blog, Bridging Differences (see Diane’s most recent post supporting the valuable report from 10 national civil rights groups calling on Obama-Duncan to change course in their education efforts: Click here to see Bridging Differences .
Deb also has her own blog: Click here. The Sept column traces back test score misuse, inflation and political gamesmanship going back to 1981. She reminds us that the state test scores in NYC are now what they were when Bloomberg took office – the conformatory evidence of which only came out (natch) after he won re-election, tho many knowledgeable observers already knew this. As NAEP tells us, like the nation as a whole, most big cities are not making meaningful gains on independent reading and math tests (never mind anything else) despite huge pressure to boost just those scores – narrowing curriculum, teaching to the test, longer school days/years (summer school) focusing on more test prep, etc. In short, focusing on testing has done something between being unhelpful and being actively destructive – the balance probably depending a lot on where you are, with the most damage typically falling on the most vulnerable.
Monty
Monty Neill, Ed.D.; Interim Executive Director, FairTest
I recommend reading Ravitch’s September 14 blog regarding Civil Rights Groups’ assessment of Obama’s education agenda. There is a case for closing the resource gap to help close the achievement gap. This speaks to the issue of distribution of Race to the Top Funds to some states while others receive no funding. Very informative.
Meier’s September blog about her experience watching NYC school testing these past 43 years concludes with her application of Campbell’s Law. The data declines in value the more high stakes attached to them.
She is not anti-data but wants the real stuff.