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May 29, 2007

Morning Shots

New York Times Magazine:  Standardizing the Standards

“I know you’re restless today, but I need to see you sitting at your desks. Angel, that means you, too!” In the second-grade classroom at the Washington school where I volunteer, the teacher turned to me and said with a sigh, “It’s testing week.”

The president’s signature domestic initiative, now due for its five-year reauthorization, was supposed to be a model of the hardheaded rigor it aims to instill in America’s schools. “No ‘accountability proposals’ without accountability,” a Bush education adviser declared early on.

And all for what? Not leaps in learning, to judge by an older, federally financed test called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, whose format reflects clear standards for basic subjects and goes beyond multiple-choice questions.

Agreeing on common goals for what kids should be learning can free up teachers to focus more productively on how they could be learning better...Still, a good national exam would spread well-focused standards across state borders and spur progress.

Los Angeles Times:  More schools are ditching final exams

Instead of late-night cramming and tutorials on how to ace multiple-choice tests, Joshua Koenig prepared for finals by rehearsing a PowerPoint presentation on the challenges of trading stock options and what he learned while attempting to climb Mt. Rainier with his father.

As thousands of public school students sat for standardized tests last week and others prepare for upcoming final exams, Wildwood is one of a number of schools across the country using oral presentations — or exhibitions — to determine students' readiness to move on to the next grade, or in Koenig's case, to graduate.

"Standardized tests are just snapshots that measure mostly the ability to recall facts, whereas performance-based assessments measure the ability to synthesize information, compare and contrast, look for different points of view and think critically," said Brett Bradshaw, director of strategic communications for the Coalition of Essential Schools, a nonprofit organization with about 250 member campuses that promotes exhibitions as a preferred form of student assessment.

Seniors must put together a portfolio incorporating essays, research papers, reading logs, graph and statistical analyses and multimedia projects reflecting two years of academic work. The portfolio is included in their oral presentations.

Washington Post:  Core classes not enough, report warns

It's no secret to most high school students that taking the required courses, getting good grades and receiving a diploma don't take much work. The average U.S. high school senior donning a cap and gown this spring will have spent an hour a day on homework and at least three hours a day watching TV, playing video games and pursuing other diversions.

"Rigor at Risk: Reaffirming Quality in the High School Core Curriculum," by the Iowa City-based testing company ACT Inc. says, "Students today do not have a reasonable chance of becoming ready for college unless they take a number of additional higher-level" courses beyond the minimum.

Using research on the college success of students who took the ACT college entrance test, and comparing their test scores to their high school records, ACT researchers found that many core courses were not carefully constructed or monitored and that students often received good grades in the core courses even if they didn't learn much.

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