Deacon923
Scooter Banks
The unholy trinity.
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/07/why-poor-schools-can-t-win-at-standardized-testing/374287/
This article is not terribly well written in my opinion but it does contain some very telling facts.
1. The textbook manufacturers also make the standardized tests. The answers to the tests, the way the test wants them, are only in that company's textbooks, not their competitors and certainly not the old editions from 5 or 10 years ago. There is a clear link between standardized testing and $$$$ for these companies, who all lobby hard for as much "accountability" as they can get. "Accountability" = $$$ in their pockets.
2. Poor urban schools (or any poor schools) have to do the tests, but can't afford the textbooks. This is called an "unfunded mandate". Or simply, a pile of crap, with poor kids predictably at the bottom.
3. School systems are often mismanaged and have no idea who has what textbooks. This may be due to incompetence or funding/personnel cuts or both. It may also be due to these schools and districts just being too darn big such that they are almost impossible to manage.
Bottom line, everybody's getting paid but kids aren't learning.
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/07/why-poor-schools-can-t-win-at-standardized-testing/374287/
This article is not terribly well written in my opinion but it does contain some very telling facts.
1. The textbook manufacturers also make the standardized tests. The answers to the tests, the way the test wants them, are only in that company's textbooks, not their competitors and certainly not the old editions from 5 or 10 years ago. There is a clear link between standardized testing and $$$$ for these companies, who all lobby hard for as much "accountability" as they can get. "Accountability" = $$$ in their pockets.
2. Poor urban schools (or any poor schools) have to do the tests, but can't afford the textbooks. This is called an "unfunded mandate". Or simply, a pile of crap, with poor kids predictably at the bottom.
3. School systems are often mismanaged and have no idea who has what textbooks. This may be due to incompetence or funding/personnel cuts or both. It may also be due to these schools and districts just being too darn big such that they are almost impossible to manage.
Bottom line, everybody's getting paid but kids aren't learning.