Sorry, once again, I forgot to add the link to the article. It’s here now. Please read it.
Tom Pauken is not only the Texas Workforce Commissioner, he is a prominent member of the Texas Republican party.
He says that labeling schools by test scores based on formulas written in Washington, D.C., and Austin is a sort of “abstract intellectualism” that doesn’t work.
He says there are lots of good jobs that go begging because young people aren’t prepared for them.
Here is his testimony to the state legislature.
His only error is in assuming that the demand for high-stakes testing prepares students for college.
It doesn’t. To prepare well for college, you need far more than the ability to answer bubble-test questions. You need to be well read, able to write well, able to think for yourself, able to figure out complex problems, know a goodly amount of history.
None of these things matter for NCLB–or for that matter, for the Race to the Top.
Both NCLB and RTTT are “abstract intellectualism” at their worst.
Hi, Diane! I can’t find a link to the story.
Also, for college preparation I’d add the ability to do quality work at a sustained pace.
Thanks! I reposted with the link.
One more thing–I would argue that NCLB and RTtT are not so much “abstract intellectualism” as very clearly designed ploys to generate public fear and anger in order to drive the public not only accept–but to demand–school privatization.
As heartening as it is to learn of a new critique of NCLB and RTTT, I do not agree that they are examples of “abstract intellectualism,” nor do I appreciate Mr. Pauken’s dig at abstraction or at intellectualism.
They are instead suggestive of crude and misplaced pragmatism. They have contributed to a system where schools and teachers are measured by “results” that lack substance or meaning.
I hear so many subtle insults directed at “intellectuals” lately–as though “intellectuals,” being “up in the clouds” and out of touch with “reality,” were to blame for this senseless system we have now.
It is more likely that such “intellectuals” are busy defending the kind of education we should have–by devoting themselves to it, writing about it, and teaching courses in it.
Some of those studies are indeed abstract, and abstraction can be beautiful.
Hear, hear!
Dienne, I have a feeling (from this and your second comment) that we might think similarly, at least on some topics.
On a related subject, a satirical piece: “College Bans Words ‘Intellect’ and ‘Culture'”:
http://www.cronknews.com/2012/09/17/college-bans-words-intellect-and-culture/
This is what I posted in our local paper this weekend.
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/564236/Testing-overrated.html?nav=737
Parents get ready for new tests this school year.
Pennsylvania is rolling out the new Keystone exams (the Keystones will take the place of the PSSAs).
All of Pennsylvania’s 11th graders will be required to take Keystones (high-stakes standardized tests) in algebra, literature and biology.
Great. New tests to replace the old tests.
And why has Pennsylvania decided to get new high-stakes tests?
According to the spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education Tim Eller, “We have heard from the higher education community and business community that students are not graduating with the skills needed to enter the workforce. These exams are raised to the level of what’s needed to ensure that students are meeting certain requirements before they leave school.”
First, what qualifications does a spokesman for the DOE have that permits him to make such a broad statement about testing?
Second, the above quote is total garbage. Being in the higher education community, I can tell you for a fact that most college professors do not want more high-stakes testing. In fact, we want it to stop.
Students aren’t coming to college unprepared because they didn’t have the right test. They come to college unprepared because of tests. They don’t have workforce skills because of tests.
High-stakes tests and the perverted notion that we can test students into proficiency are the real problem.
We also know (but for some reason “qualified” people at the Pennsylvania DOE don’t know) that the last 10 years has been a disaster for students.
Testing has essentially denied a generation of children a quality and equitable education rich in all academic areas. Testing and test preparation are the problems.
The new Keystone exams will do nothing to better prepare students for college and the workforce.
You don’t need test-taking skills to thrive in college and the workplace. You need to be able to think and you need to be able to learn – two things standardized tests don’t and will never measure.
Parents, please save your children from this new disaster by opting out.
Literature? High stakes testing in literature? As in, students will need to read and understand certain works? Wow, I can’t quite conceive of how that can be pulled off.
Unless “literature” is just a misnomer for “reading comprehension” and other reading skills.
On the other hand–if there’s no “evidence” that teaching credentials have any value, etc, etc why such a rush to get everyone to college. Can we “prove” that all the other jobs that now require a BA (or even a high school diploma) need them?????