DISD trustees have to figure out this new STAAR testing deal and how much it will figure into grading. It’s important, it’s complicated, and we should ditch the whole thing. Read this New Republic story about Finland’s education system. If you’re too busy to read the entire thing, here’s the gist:
In comparison to the United States and many other industrialized nations, the Finns have implemented a radically different model of educational reform — based on a balanced curriculum and professionalization, not testing. Not only do Finnish educational authorities provide students with far more recess than their U.S. counterparts–75 minutes a day in Finnish elementary schools versus an average of 27 minutes in the U.S. — but they also mandate lots of arts and crafts, more learning by doing, rigorous standards for teacher certification, higher teacher pay, and attractive working conditions. This is a far cry from the U.S. concentration on testing in reading and math since the enactment of No Child Left Behind in 2002, which has led school districts across the country, according to a survey by the Center on Education Policy, to significantly narrow their curricula.
