Child Archive

  • KSD Citizens has been concerned with an over emphasis on testing since our inauguration.

    High Stakes Tests Bad for Learning

    Posted on March 11, 2012 | No Comments
    KSD Citizens has been concerned with an over emphasis on testing since our inauguration.

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  • Excerpts from this article:  …We have had a full decade of No Child Left Behind, and we now know that the law has been a disaster. …Now we know the results of this absurd law. More than 80% of our schools have been labeled failing schools. By the year 2014, nearly 100% of our schools will be considered failures. Has any other national legislature in history ever passed a law guaranteed to label every single one of its schools a failure? I don’t know of any.  …Let’s be clear about what NCLB has really accomplished: It has convinced the media and major philanthropies and Wall Street hedge fund managers that American public education is a failure and that radical solutions are required.  …We have now had ten years of No Child Left Behind, and we now know that there has...

    Diane Ravitch Knows How to Improve Public Education

    Posted on December 12, 2011 | 1 Comment
    Excerpts from this article:  …We have had a full decade of No Child Left Behind, and we now know that the law has been a disaster. …Now we know the results of this absurd law. More than 80% of our schools have been labeled failing schools. By the year 2014, nearly 100% of our schools will be considered failures. Has any other national legislature in history ever passed a law guaranteed to label every single one of its schools a failure? I don’t know of any.  …Let’s be clear about what NCLB has really accomplished: It has convinced the media and major philanthropies and Wall Street hedge fund managers that American public education is a failure and that radical solutions are required.  …We have now had ten years of No Child Left Behind, and we now know that there has...

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  • I am often asked why I am so opposed to the drill-and-test curriculum that has been foisted on the public schools by corporatists and legislators over the past couple of decades in the name of accountability.  There are many reasons, of course, but I will focus on what I consider the core issue here.  The big issue for me is that the so-called reform efforts pay no attention to what is known about the brain and how we learn.  As you read the following article, think about what research supports and the instruction that is actually going on in schools today.  Then answer the question: What do you want for your children?

    Cognition-Based Principles of Learning

    Posted on September 6, 2011 | 4 Comments
    I am often asked why I am so opposed to the drill-and-test curriculum that has been foisted on the public schools by corporatists and legislators over the past couple of decades in the name of accountability.  There are many reasons, of course, but I will focus on what I consider the core issue here.  The big issue for me is that the so-called reform efforts pay no attention to what is known about the brain and how we learn.  As you read the following article, think about what research supports and the instruction that is actually going on in schools today.  Then answer the question: What do you want for your children?

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  • By Monty Neill, Ed.D. Executive Director, FairTest With the teaching profession and public schools under attack as never before, teachers, parents and others rallied in Washington, D.C., at the end of July to “Save Our Schools.” The two most prominent themes at the SOS event were: The nation’s failure to address poverty or to provide every child with a strong opportunity to thrive and learn, and The overuse and misuse of standardized tests imposed by No Child Left Behind and made worse by the actions of many states and districts. Teachers, students, parents and many others recognize that testing mania has gone way too far. It undermines the limited educational opportunity low-income youth do have. Click this link for more - http://otlcampaignblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/do-away-with-test-and-punish-for-real.html

    Do Away with Test-and-Punish for Real Opportunity to Learn

    Posted on August 5, 2011 | No Comments
    By Monty Neill, Ed.D. Executive Director, FairTest With the teaching profession and public schools under attack as never before, teachers, parents and others rallied in Washington, D.C., at the end of July to “Save Our Schools.” The two most prominent themes at the SOS event were: The nation’s failure to address poverty or to provide every child with a strong opportunity to thrive and learn, and The overuse and misuse of standardized tests imposed by No Child Left Behind and made worse by the actions of many states and districts. Teachers, students, parents and many others recognize that testing mania has gone way too far. It undermines the limited educational opportunity low-income youth do have. Click this link for more - http://otlcampaignblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/do-away-with-test-and-punish-for-real.html

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  • Federal Relations Network Of the Washington State School Directors Association 2011 Participation Washington DC, February 5-9 Kathy White Kennewick School Director, Position 3 I arrived in Washington DC on Saturday, February 5, 2011. The first event was orientation on Sunday morning for first time participants, that’s me! We were given a brief overview of this year’s legislative agenda and spent more time on how to influence your senators and representatives. Different role plays were shown and the most effective techniques were emphasized.

    Kathy White Reports on WSSDA Trip to DC

    Posted on April 18, 2011 | 1 Comment
    Federal Relations Network Of the Washington State School Directors Association 2011 Participation Washington DC, February 5-9 Kathy White Kennewick School Director, Position 3 I arrived in Washington DC on Saturday, February 5, 2011. The first event was orientation on Sunday morning for first time participants, that’s me! We were given a brief overview of this year’s legislative agenda and spent more time on how to influence your senators and representatives. Different role plays were shown and the most effective techniques were emphasized.

    Continue Reading...

  • The state and the nation are pursuing policies that have not closed the achievement gap and have aggravated the situation for many students.  “Indeed, No Child Left Behind’s ‘get-tough’ approach to accountability has led to more students being left even further behind, thus feeding the dropout crisis and the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” according to this new report from a consortium of  education organizations.  Nearly 150 organizations have endorsed the paper. For further information, see expert contacts listed below. Ror immediate release, Thursday, March 17, 2011.     NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CATALYZES “SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE” New Report Shows High-Stakes Testing and Zero-Tolerance Policies Force Students Out of School and Into the Justice System Washington, DC– A report released today details the sharp growth in practices that push K-12 students out of schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems, with especially...

    NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CATALYZES “SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE”

    Posted on March 18, 2011 | 2 Comments
    The state and the nation are pursuing policies that have not closed the achievement gap and have aggravated the situation for many students.  “Indeed, No Child Left Behind’s ‘get-tough’ approach to accountability has led to more students being left even further behind, thus feeding the dropout crisis and the School-to-Prison Pipeline,” according to this new report from a consortium of  education organizations.  Nearly 150 organizations have endorsed the paper. For further information, see expert contacts listed below. Ror immediate release, Thursday, March 17, 2011.     NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CATALYZES “SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE” New Report Shows High-Stakes Testing and Zero-Tolerance Policies Force Students Out of School and Into the Justice System Washington, DC– A report released today details the sharp growth in practices that push K-12 students out of schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems, with especially...

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  • My friend and mentor, Don Orlich (professor emeritus at Washington State University) is a long-time warrior in the battle to save our local pubic schools from corporate takeover. He sent me this well researched paper on educational standards. We have condensed the article here, but you can obtain the full piece with citations by contacting us at ksdcitizens.org. In My View Educational Standards—Caveat Emptor by Donald C. Orlich Under pressure from the U.S. Department of Education and select private foundations, state officials have rushed to establish and enforce sets of standards for the K–12 public schools sector (e.g., Achieve, Inc.; Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation; Goals 2000; No Child Left Behind [NCLB] 2002; and Race to the Top [RTTT]). Thousands of pages of standards have been developed. The newest brief enthusiasm is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). What follows...

    In My View: Educational Standards—Caveat Emptor by Donald C. Orlich

    Posted on December 17, 2010 | 1 Comment
    My friend and mentor, Don Orlich (professor emeritus at Washington State University) is a long-time warrior in the battle to save our local pubic schools from corporate takeover. He sent me this well researched paper on educational standards. We have condensed the article here, but you can obtain the full piece with citations by contacting us at ksdcitizens.org. In My View Educational Standards—Caveat Emptor by Donald C. Orlich Under pressure from the U.S. Department of Education and select private foundations, state officials have rushed to establish and enforce sets of standards for the K–12 public schools sector (e.g., Achieve, Inc.; Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation; Goals 2000; No Child Left Behind [NCLB] 2002; and Race to the Top [RTTT]). Thousands of pages of standards have been developed. The newest brief enthusiasm is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). What follows...

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  • And those of us with the experience to see the broad view of education over 30 or 40 years ought to raise our voices and let it be known that what is going on with young children and academic learning is not OK and can only serve to harm their deeper sensibilities and interfere with their full development as whole human beings.

    A Historical Perspective of Whole Child Education

    Posted on December 2, 2010 | 1 Comment
    And those of us with the experience to see the broad view of education over 30 or 40 years ought to raise our voices and let it be known that what is going on with young children and academic learning is not OK and can only serve to harm their deeper sensibilities and interfere with their full development as whole human beings.

    Continue Reading...

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