Thanks for the note. I agree that it does not seem worth your time or energy to analyze the exams (you are busy teaching kids!), and I certainly do not mean to imply that they are 100% valid. But they seem pretty reasonable. My point in the post was that lots of the anti-testing rhetoric is over-stated.

But I also agree that there are all sorts of flaws with our assessment regime. The tests are given in April but they are supposed to test learning from all year; the results come back more slowly than necessary .. if they came back sooner they could be of more use to educators and kids.

Nevertheless, I am surprised by your generalization that it makes teachers angry and it makes good ones quit. I am sure that happens sometimes, but I also know of teachers who like to see how well the kids have grasped a year’s worth of work; principals want to judge the effectiveness of their school; and I see lots of positive consequences based on good results.

Here is an example of some positive consequences:

http://www.uark.edu/ua/oep/AER/7_3_2010_Outstanding_Educational_Performance_Awards.pdf

Here’s an essay we wrote after working with lots of teachers in NWA around testing time and were surprised to hear some positives views on tests:

http://www.uark.edu/ua/oep/OpEds/2010_OPED_Teachers_Like_These_Tests_Really.pdf

Nonetheless, thanks for your post … I would love to figure out a way for us to get all the useful information provided by testing without some of the negatives you describe.

Acknowledge its influence? Fine (although this is already done across the nation). But the bill as quoted above appears to seek more than that.

If only there were a place that offered young people a chance to learn about the Bible . . . maybe they could meet on Sundays?

When I talked to her about it she said that the shipment bill she was working on was only for a specific constituent. She noted that shipping wine directly to consumers is a problem–underage and collecting state taxes.

She was not concerned that 37 of the 50 states allow wine shipments and seem not to have any problems with underage drinking or tax collection.

If she had a real problem with lost revenue and underage drinking, she would make it illegal for the Arkansas Wineries to directly ship wine out of state. Think about the children and lost revenue!

There is a wealth of research demonstrating that more spending on education does not equal better outcomes. Education spending per pupil has more than doubled in real terms since 1970, and yet achievement remained flat over that period. Only Luxembourg spends more per pupil than the U.S. Simply throwing more money at the system is clearly not the answer.

Postulating that it is better to spend money on fixing education than it is to fix wealth inequality is nonsensical. It’s not that it’s wrong and spending money first on the other is right; it’s that we have the resources to fix both and our elected leader lack the fortitude to do either.

FWIW, I didn’t detect any anger. Just some friendly, honest discussion. Usually better over drinks..

If only there were a way to give poor kids equal access to the best schools in a community…hmm