In today’s post on his Class Struggle blog, Jay Mathews disagrees with a recent column by Dana Milbank that spotlights many of the negatives to our all-testing-all-the-time educational system.
Hardly a surprise since Mathews never met a standardized test (or a charter school) he didn’t like.
So, why is Milbank wrong?
As near as I can figure Mathews’ side of the argument all boils down to politics since “…Milbank already knows that campaigning against standardized tests is a loser”.
And…
Since at least the late 1980s, the majority of Democratic and Republican legislators and executives have been reconciled to creating systems in which all children take tests and changes are made in schools that do not score well.
Still, liberals and conservatives in Congress appear to agree that test scores will remain important in any revision of the law.
So, the consensus among our politicians, most of whom have little understanding of K12 education beyond sitting in class for thirteen years, is that wrapping schools in a culture of test prep is the best policy to improve student learning and prepare them for a constantly changing world that never gives standardized tests.
Yeah, that sounds right.
Well none of these fellows who portray themselves as experts in education seem to have any practical experience riding herd on a classroom filled with adolescents, and many politicians seem to have little practical experience about much of anything. Typical.