Columnists

All of the Testing, None of the Guilt

Call it “No Child Left Behind-Lite,” but if it passes, The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 would still pack enough calorie-rich standardized testing to weigh down what education should be. If you like the passive-aggressive nature of the federal government’s healthcare law, you’re going to love the latest proposed NCLB-revision bill in the Senate. If you like your test scores, you can keep your test scores, because the federal government doesn’t want them. In fact, under this bill, the federal government would still mandate yearly testing in grades 3-8 and once in high school, as it did under NCLB, but it won’t tell the states how to use the scores it collects. Under the old NCLB, schools were required to use these scores to meet AYP, or “adequate yearly progress,” or face sanctions as severe as eventual shutdown.

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To Teach or Not to Teach: That is the Question

Nancie Atwell, winner of the Varkey Foundation’s first Global Teacher Prize, recently spoke to CNN’s “New Day” show about receiving a $1 million award that she subsequently handed over to her school, the school she founded, the Center For Teaching and Learning. I admire Ms. Atwell and all her work. I am sure she is a great teacher, but I have a problem with any teacher, even me, being called the best Global Teacher and winning an award of $1,000,000.

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Are We Evaluating the Right Things in Schools?

Dr. Stephen Fink is the executive director of the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership (CEL), and affiliate associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies in the University of Washington College of Education.Dr. Fink is co-author of Leading for Instructional Improvement: How Successful Leaders Develop Teaching and Learning Expertise.

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