Arne Duncan: ‘White suburban moms’ upset that Common Core shows their kids aren’t ‘brilliant’

[sabrina 1]

62. Yes, I did mean Standardized testing. And I also despise the pressure to pass students before they

ready, that pressure even worse now, based as it is on funding for the schools, a despicable tactic which shows clearly what the real objectives are.

NCLB was invented by businessmen. Big Business has profited hugely as a result of the Standardized Testing system which has zero to do with Education. The Corps who are in the business of publishing those states have made out like bandits. Not so, the teachers and students.

We should have a system where first, the standards to become a teacher should be as high as any other profession. NOT just 'you need this or that course' in order to earn a higher salary. There are models in other countries that actually have successful education programs we could learn from.

Teachers here are treated like dirt compared to doctors and lawyers.

Second, the entire system needs to be changed in terms of actual learning. Respect for the development of the child's abilities, and they are NOT all the same which is why standardized testing is such a failure as it assumes that every child IS the same, needs to be the biggest part of a teacher's job.

Geniuses can fail tests and often do so what is the purpose of them?
Some developed countries do not even begin to use standardized tests until the third grade.

Now we have teachers' hands tied regarding focusing on actual learning and teaching. Their focus is now limited to the restrictive material on these tests and everyone shuts out all other opportunities to actual learning and education.

It's a system that could only have been thought up by those ignorant of what education is and how children learn.

The only good purpose for testing to get an idea of how much of what they have been taught has been retained, or needs further work. We are doing the OPPOSITE. We have turned was only one tool in the hands of educators into something it can never be. OTher than harmful.

Now the material on the test, IS the curriculum. Who in their right mind EVER thought this could work? Well we know who didn't, educators. And we know who didn't care, Corporations whose goals are the bottom line, not education.

It's only going to get worse.