Thomas Ralston, superintendent of the Avonworth School District in western Pennsylvania, was thrilled to be invited to the White House with other superintendents, where they met President Obama and Secretary Duncan and mutually pledged to be “future-ready.” He was pleased when Secretary Duncan declared that testing was sucking the oxygen out of classrooms.
Thus, he was stunned and disappointed when Duncan endorsed the status quo of annual testing in the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. How could he?
Ralston knows that standardized testing is an artifact of the past, not the wave of the future.
He writes:
“The age of standardized testing has de-emphasized creativity and innovation by overly relying on test performance as a criterion of school and student success. This emphasis has resulted in limiting school curricula, robbing students of experience with the arts and other non-tested subjects….
“Standardized tests do not acknowledge the developmental differences in children. When we endorse them we subscribe to the belief that all children learn the same way and at the same rate.
“Likewise, standardized tests fail to measure the skills that employers have identified as essential for success now and in the future: communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity….
“With the overdue reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act on the horizon, education in America is at a critical crossroads. Rather than continue with an iteration of the act that brought us No Child Left Behind in 2000, I hope it is reauthorized in a way that captures the essence of the Future Ready Pledge.
“It is time for our government officials to display courage and do what is best for children. The rest of us must make sure our voices are heard as we demand that all children receive creative and engaging learning experiences that will best prepare them for the opportunities of the future.”
I am happy to name Superintendent Thomas Ralston to the honor roll for speaking with courage and clarity on behalf of children to those in power.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
First, no, my kindergartener and my second grader don’t need to be “future-ready”, whatever is meant by that. They need to be allowed to have a present.
Second, no, they do not need to use “digital learning tools”, whether to be “future-ready” or otherwise. Some very limited use of technology is appropriate for their age, yes, but the vast majority of their learning needs to be direct, authentic, in-person, hands-on experience.
Third, “assessment” is not synonymous with “testing”. The best assessments involve allowing kids to show what they can do, not what they can regurgitate on a test. I didn’t see anything that indicates an understanding of authentic assessment, just another way to talk about tests, tests, tests.
Dienne,
“Future ready” is the new eduspeak meant to replace “college and career ready”.
I’m not sure if it originated in Futurama or not.
I wish government would just provide the infrastructure instead of selling devices. I don’t think that’s their role. I actually think it’s wildly inappropriate.
Are they not confident in the sales ability of the tech sector? I am. I think they can sell a truck load of devices without help.
It seems like everything is for sale in America.
I’m really relieved my district is going slow with technology. The hard sell from DC and allied lobbyists should be a real alarm bell.
We actually had a community meeting on it. I thought it would be lemming-like but it was not, at all.
There was a healthy amount of skepticism! 🙂
They’re wary that they’ll be palming off cheap junk on public schools to replace programs and people we’ve lost due to budget cuts. That’s an entirely rational fear, IMO.
Ah, yes. Teachers do not become obsolete in a few years. In fact, they get better and can be regularly updated well beyond the average life of a computer. As an added bonus, they even care about their students!
Always appreciate when superintendents speak out.
Diane here is another candidate for your Honor Roll:
http://www.deerparkcityschools.org/news/Deer-Park-Superintendent-Testifies-on-State-Mandated-Testing.cfm
one of the weird aspects of what he says about “communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity….etc.” is that privatization advocates might be discovering the importance of some of these things, and the more they can negotiate deals..(Indiana?) to allow them to avoid the testing krap they refer to in order to trash public schools…..the better off they will be. The problem they have…..hiring the people to do a good job with communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity….can be more expensive than their sponsors like………a cherry picking situation is valuable for them……
Their whole framework is bankrupt. I am reading articles about how kindergarten is supposed to get students more “college-ready.” Huh? I though kindergarten was supposed to make students First Grade Ready. Should we not also be preparing them to be Military Ready as some of them are going to be going into the armed services? How about Marriage Readiness? How about Business Ready, surely college isn’t for everyone?
This whole reform effort is a bad joke that no one is laughing at and we need to shout these morons off of the stage.
Arne Duncan is no intellectual. It is amazing that Obama has given him so much power over an intellectual arm of government. Being the talented athlete he is , his focus is on the end goal only. He does not have the intellectual capacity to analyze alternative ways to reach that end goal. Nor does he have the intellectual depth to take seriously the concerns of others over his approach to reach the end goal. As far as I’m concerned he needs to be benched and replaced with a more thoughtful human being. He should understand his limits.