New York City’s Department of Education launched a new initiative with old and failed ideas: more testing for schools with low scores.
Liat Olenick, a teacher of science in elementary school in the city, explains why more testing is a very bad idea. She says smaller classes would be far more valuable and effective.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I certainly agree that more testing is not the answer to improving students’ school performance. And smaller classrooms will help because they will allow teachers to give more attention to the needs of each student. However, in my experience as a school principal, students opportunities to work together, learn more skills, and see themselves as winners went beyond the classroom was the key to better learning. See it described in my blog
“The Treasure Hunter” today.
There is something very Alice in Wonderlandish about having to write an article to point out that more testing is not the answer to the problems caused by testing.
The people like Mary Ellen Elia who keep pushing failed policies are not simply stupid but are actually insane in Mad Hatter sort of way
More testing simply drives students and teachers down the data “rabbit hole.” What a waste of time and money!
One book makes you larger,
And one book makes you small,
But the test that standards give you
Don’t do anything at all—
Go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall.
You don’t fatten a Cheshire Cat by weighing it.
Smaller class sizes will not help, if math teachers continue peddling number bonds instead of associative property, ELA teachers continue peddling balanced literacy instead of phonics, and science teachers continue talking about “compactness of substance” instead of studying laws of motion, hydraulics, electricity. Bad practices has to be abandoned, good curricula has to be introduced. Even with a class of one balanced literacy fails.
This is one of the many strands of idiocy that drove me from New York City’s schools.
could the teachers union have prevented the hiring of Carranza? could it move him out?
New York should learn to avoid people from Florida. They never work out since Florida’s whole policy is based on destroying public education.
MaryEllen Elia came from Hillsborough, where she was fired. She was hired by NY as StAte Commissioner. Loved testing. Loved online adaptive testing. She’s gone.