"Save Our Schools"
The Bartleby Project"Juggernaut."Picture a huge, ancient chariot being pulled through narrow city
streets, carrying a crude idol of a god. So massive is the chariot, citizens
are crushed under its wooden wheels.The education reform effort begun in the 1980s at the urging of
corporate America is a juggernaut. The god it carries is The Standardized Test.On board the chariot, surrounding the god and enthusiastically waving
the standards and accountability banner, are the President of the United
States, the Secretary of Education, nearly all the state governors, the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the Gates, Broad, and Walton
foundations, hedge fund managers, publishers of test and test prep
materials, a few big-city mayors, and celebrities such as Michelle
Rhee, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeb Bush.The chariot riders , true believers, take it for granted that learning
isn't a natural act, that it happens only under threat, and that high-stakes, standardized tests provide that necessary threat. Their money, name
recognition, political power, public relations skills, and easy access
to the mainstream media, are used to steadily increase the number of
worshipers of the Standardized Test God.But the chariot has stalled, so hard questions must be asked.And of those questions, easily the most important one is this: Can
standardized tests measure complex, "higher order" thinking skills? Can
they not merely gather the contents of every learners' memory, but arrange
and rearrange those memories in ways that enable them to infer,
hypothesize, generalize, relate, synthesize, judge relative value, create new knowledge?Experienced educators say "No."But those now shaping education policy say "Yes," and have handed
near-absolute power to the Standardized Test God. It's reasonable,
then, to ask them to explain and defend their actions to the educators whose
agreement and cooperation they must have if the juggernaut is to move
on.Congressional action looms, and time is short. Establishing a schedule
for deciding who's right-educators or politicians-is appropriate and
necessary. Here's how that can be made to happen:For four days, between July 28-31, a march and a call to action
called "Save Our Schools" will take place in Washington, D.C.At least two weeks before the protesters arrive, the US Department of
Education should post ten illustrative or model questions on its
website, two each for five different complex, "higher order" thought processes. The ten questions, when answered, should produce scores that compare and rank the test-taker's skill with that of all others answering the same question.On the website, following each question, provision should be made for
dialogue-for a conversation between experienced educators and
policymakers in Washington.To set wise policy, out of that dialog must come a clear answer. Can
machine-scored standardized tests measure human thought processes
precisely enough to allow standardized tests to shape America's future ? Yes, or no?The ten model questions posted by the USDOE should meet two criteria.First, they must be 100% machine scoreable and reliable. This is
essential, for sooner or later, taxpayers will want to know why they're paying billions of dollars to corporations to score single examples of school work (work taxpayers will rarely or never see), when those same taxpayers have already paid teachers to score a far richer and more visible stream of work?Second, each USDOE sample questions must yield a useful, meaningful
score. It must say, for example, that in a practical, real-world situation-a
situation familiar to the test taker-the test-taker-taker's inference,
hypothesis, generalization, value judgment or other complex thought
process deserves an "8" rather than a "7," a "9," or some other score.And then, to the satisfaction of the citizenry, the reason for the
assigned rank must be explained.At a meeting I attended on August 2, 2008 in Titusville, Florida, prior
to his election, President Obama recognized me, asked about my teaching
experience, and accepted my question about his future administration's
openness to the input of educators on matters of education policy.To his credit, he didn't promise me that such would be the case; his
answer came later when, to the great disappointment of many educators, he
chose the cliché-prone Arne Duncan rather than an educator to head the Department of Education.After the election, in a small, classroom meeting with Secretary Arne
Duncan near Orlando, Florida, my raised hand went unacknowledged, but the
Secretary said that, although present standardized tests were flawed and in need of major improvement, much greater use was going to be made of them.Any trace of logic in that policy escapes me. Why are billions of
dollars being spent to buy and administer tests the Secretary admits are
flawed? What purpose is served by numbers and rankings that yield no reliable, useful information?Do we now accept without question that political agendas and
stockholder gains trump common sense?I agree with the late, highly respected paleontologist, biologist and
historian Stephen Jay Gould who near the end of his book The Mismeasure
of Man, summed up what everyone who's given more than a moment's serious
thought to the matter knows: "Human uniqueness lies in the flexibility
of what our brains can do. What is intelligence, if not the ability to
face problems in an unprogrammed manner?"The situation calls for action. Now. Students, strongly supported by
their teachers, parents, grandparents, and all others who care about the
future of education and America, should join the Bartleby Project initiated in 2008 by John Taylor Gatto.In an Afterward to his book Weapons of Mass Instruction, Gatto calls
the young to participate in what he calls "an open conspiracy" to destroy
the standardized testing industry.If destroying the standardized testing industry sounds like an extreme
action, you don't understand the problem.
Gatto's argument can be accessed at:[ http://www.newsociety.com/titleimages/TI004012_OI001098_23.pdf ]http://www.newsociety.com/titleimages/TI004012_OI001098_23.pdf
by: Marion Brady
A
Andrea
(view)
The Bartleby Project"Juggernaut."Picture a huge, ancient chariot being pulled through narrow city
streets, carrying a crude idol of a god. So massive is the chariot, citizens
are crushed under its wooden wheels.The education reform effort begun in the 1980s at the urging of
corporate America is a juggernaut. The god it carries is The Standardized Test.On board the chariot, surrounding the god and enthusiastically waving
the standards and accountability banner, are the President of the United
States, the Secretary of Education, nearly all the state governors, the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the Gates, Broad, and Walton
foundations, hedge fund managers, publishers of test and test prep
materials, a few big-city mayors, and celebrities such as Michelle
Rhee, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeb Bush.The chariot riders , true believers, take it for granted that learning
isn't a natural act, that it happens only under threat, and that high-stakes, standardized tests provide that necessary threat. Their money, name
recognition, political power, public relations skills, and easy access
to the mainstream media, are used to steadily increase the number of
worshipers of the Standardized Test God.But the chariot has stalled, so hard questions must be asked.And of those questions, easily the most important one is this: Can
standardized tests measure complex, "higher order" thinking skills? Can
they not merely gather the contents of every learners' memory, but arrange
and rearrange those memories in ways that enable them to infer,
hypothesize, generalize, relate, synthesize, judge relative value, create new knowledge?Experienced educators say "No."But those now shaping education policy say "Yes," and have handed
near-absolute power to the Standardized Test God. It's reasonable,
then, to ask them to explain and defend their actions to the educators whose
agreement and cooperation they must have if the juggernaut is to move
on.Congressional action looms, and time is short. Establishing a schedule
for deciding who's right-educators or politicians-is appropriate and
necessary. Here's how that can be made to happen:For four days, between July 28-31, a march and a call to action
called "Save Our Schools" will take place in Washington, D.C.At least two weeks before the protesters arrive, the US Department of
Education should post ten illustrative or model questions on its
website, two each for five different complex, "higher order" thought processes. The ten questions, when answered, should produce scores that compare and rank the test-taker's skill with that of all others answering the same question.On the website, following each question, provision should be made for
dialogue-for a conversation between experienced educators and
policymakers in Washington.To set wise policy, out of that dialog must come a clear answer. Can
machine-scored standardized tests measure human thought processes
precisely enough to allow standardized tests to shape America's future ? Yes, or no?The ten model questions posted by the USDOE should meet two criteria.First, they must be 100% machine scoreable and reliable. This is
essential, for sooner or later, taxpayers will want to know why they're paying billions of dollars to corporations to score single examples of school work (work taxpayers will rarely or never see), when those same taxpayers have already paid teachers to score a far richer and more visible stream of work?Second, each USDOE sample questions must yield a useful, meaningful
score. It must say, for example, that in a practical, real-world situation-a
situation familiar to the test taker-the test-taker-taker's inference,
hypothesis, generalization, value judgment or other complex thought
process deserves an "8" rather than a "7," a "9," or some other score.And then, to the satisfaction of the citizenry, the reason for the
assigned rank must be explained.At a meeting I attended on August 2, 2008 in Titusville, Florida, prior
to his election, President Obama recognized me, asked about my teaching
experience, and accepted my question about his future administration's
openness to the input of educators on matters of education policy.To his credit, he didn't promise me that such would be the case; his
answer came later when, to the great disappointment of many educators, he
chose the cliché-prone Arne Duncan rather than an educator to head the Department of Education.After the election, in a small, classroom meeting with Secretary Arne
Duncan near Orlando, Florida, my raised hand went unacknowledged, but the
Secretary said that, although present standardized tests were flawed and in need of major improvement, much greater use was going to be made of them.Any trace of logic in that policy escapes me. Why are billions of
dollars being spent to buy and administer tests the Secretary admits are
flawed? What purpose is served by numbers and rankings that yield no reliable, useful information?Do we now accept without question that political agendas and
stockholder gains trump common sense?I agree with the late, highly respected paleontologist, biologist and
historian Stephen Jay Gould who near the end of his book The Mismeasure
of Man, summed up what everyone who's given more than a moment's serious
thought to the matter knows: "Human uniqueness lies in the flexibility
of what our brains can do. What is intelligence, if not the ability to
face problems in an unprogrammed manner?"The situation calls for action. Now. Students, strongly supported by
their teachers, parents, grandparents, and all others who care about the
future of education and America, should join the Bartleby Project initiated in 2008 by John Taylor Gatto.In an Afterward to his book Weapons of Mass Instruction, Gatto calls
the young to participate in what he calls "an open conspiracy" to destroy
the standardized testing industry.If destroying the standardized testing industry sounds like an extreme
action, you don't understand the problem.
Gatto's argument can be accessed at:[ http://www.newsociety.com/titleimages/TI004012_OI001098_23.pdf ]http://www.newsociety.com/titleimages/TI004012_OI001098_23.pdf
by: Marion Brady
