tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374816119519398476.post6164585089299885228..comments2023-04-12T01:32:22.038-07:00Comments on Bringing Change: Sahila-style: Standardised Testing - What are we doing to our children and their teachers?Sahilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11610179287237833742noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7374816119519398476.post-85470545120563285802010-10-23T07:24:48.233-07:002010-10-23T07:24:48.233-07:00from Anne Geiger at the Public Policy Blog:
(liv...from Anne Geiger at the Public Policy Blog: <br /><br />(live links not transferred because of time issues - Sahila)<br /><br />I was composing a follow-up to yesterday's post when I came across this (via Twitter where there's a growing, lively dialogue about education reform)----from Anthony Cody, who writes for Teacher Magazine (on the Education Week website), in his blog, Living in Dialogue----a thought-provoking letter exchange between a parent and a teacher---One Parent Acts to Protect Her Son: No Tests for Connor. <br /><br />I've made no secret of my concerns about the overemphasis on standardized testing and the slippery slope we're on toward privatization. This letter is a good example of what it looks like on the ground-----through the eyes of a parent who's "just not going to take it anymore," and through the wise words of her child's teacher.<br /><br />When I went to the parent's blog, Bringing Change: Sahila Style, I felt her passion, her frustration, her perspective. I have felt similarly over time as a parent, then as a school board member, and now as someone who can reflect. I believe there are many parents and teachers throughout our country who are becoming deeply concerned about market-based school reform (supply-and-demand/competition/performance-driven; i.e. standardized testing/charter schools/performance pay) and unprecedented influence of an elite club of wealthy foundations, companies and individuals. Their reform agenda is driving everyday classroom instruction, moving us away from rich, dynamic learning and fragmenting the connection between communities and their public schools.<br /><br />The forces are huge, and now the market has sniffed big profits to gain and new business networks to make. Returning to yesterday's post "follow the money" and the recent one "Educationgate?", those posted by Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post and Diane Ravitch's commentary, I add the post on Sahila's blog, where she includes two visuals---hand-drawn maps of the influence of the Gates Foundation in Seattle where she lives, and on a national scale...."<br /><br />see more at: <a href="http://www.publicpolicyblogger.com/2010/10/preserving-public-in-public-education.html" rel="nofollow">preserving public in public education</a>Sahilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11610179287237833742noreply@blogger.com