Sounds like the author is "Blaming the Messenger."
The NCLB "tests" are quite reasonable and the rest results are meaningful.
IOW: if your kids fail the tests, your kids either are not very bright,
or
they don't work/pay attention, or the teacher is completely detached from
her job.
In Virginia the Standards of Learning were set up well before "W" took
office so here we have all "Been There, Done That, Have the T-****rt."
My basic beliefs on the subject is that tere is nothing wrong with
"teaching
to the test" if the test is a reasonable and accurate determination of
what
the kids know in the way of skill and raw knowledge.
The bias of NCLB is that it's more im****tant that the schools help the
"bottom third" of the students over helping the "top third." I go along
with that. Frankly, the best way of "helping" the bright students it to
make it easy for them to progress as fast as they can. From my
experience as a kid and as a parent, up to about 10% of each class could
easily "skip" a year or two of school and in the process save themselves a
year or two of their lives and society a year or two of their education.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com
**
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