Why Rising Test Scores May Not Equal Increased Student Learning
When state test scores go up, teachers and administrators often breathe a sigh of relief that their schools will not be declared failing under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Others feel the satisfaction that funding for their public schools, which is such a large part of their states’ budget, appears to be well spent and there is an increased likelihood of having an educated work force to meet their community’s future economic needs. The positive feelings associated with rising test scores are based on our interpretation about what that increase in scores means. A rise in state, distr... More
Reading First and its Impact on Poor Children
BY NOW the failures of prepackaged, lockstep, skills-heavy Reading First instruction are as apparent as the failures of its homunculus version when it was proclaimed as George W. Bush’s “Texas Miracle.” During the time of the “Texas Miracle,” independent national testing (i.e., tests not devised in Texas) revealed that the instruction not only did not produce superior reading comprehension or academic achievement, it ... More
The Leaning (Toppling?) Tower of PISA: Facts and Doubts about International Comparisons in Education
—S. J. Prais, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, London
International comparisons in reading, math, and science have become the principal means of evaluating school quality in various nations. For school bashers and fearmongers, nothing proves the low state of American public schools bett... More
How to Resist the Growing Threat to U.S. Education
AMERICANS HAVE settled on the idea that many of our nation’s problems can be blamed on our school system and that the only way to solve them is through “school reform.” It’s an old story, but it’s become the bipartisan line in 1983 with the publication of A Nation at Risk (ANAR). An odd alliance pulled this story together, led by corporate lobbyists, neoconservatives, and the media, and joined by civil rights organizations, union leaders, activists, some institutional liberals (like Ted Kennedy), and some school l... More
Comments on Reading First: How to Save Billions and Improve Reading
READING FIRST IS the reading component of No Child Left Behind. It is aimed at children of poverty. About two million children have participated in the project and so far it has cost U.S. taxpayers approximately six billion dollars. The claims of corruption associated with Reading First have diverted attention from its failings in the classroom. Contrary to popular opinion, Reading First was based on an incorrect view of how children learn to read, one not supported by scientific studi... More
