Sunday, May 25, 2014

Toxic Culture of Education

Here high school math teacher, Johnathan Katz, talks about "the toxic culture" of high stakes testing for this TEDx talk at the University of Akron. You can read the overview of this talk at the Washington Post's Answer Sheet.

"We have ignored research and data on effective policy making practices in order to serve the interest of private industries that have monetized our students," he says.

1 comment:

loperks said...

Very well said! As a middle school teacher in California I have experienced most of this first hand. We recently conducted a practice SBAC and it was a nightmare. So many students left the testing rooms each day looking completely defeated. They have designed a test that is not only technologically frustrating, but overly complicated and poorly constructed. I also feel that with the districts struggling to come up with enough testing devices, many students were left at a disadvantage having to take a test on a difficult to maneuver iPad versus a 21 inch desktop. I completely agree that until we rethink standardized tests and accountability measures we are never going to truly realize just how our students are doing, especially considering what our system has deemed "important."