CAT Tracks for October 25, 2015
OBAMA/DUNCAN: TOO MUCH HIGH-STAKES TESTING

Yesterday, I forwarded an e-mail from Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, to CAT Tracks subscribers.

The "message" was positive:

Well, hold the celebrations!

From the opening sentence of the article below:

    "...President Barack Obama on Saturday called for capping standardized testing at 2 percent of classroom time..."

But, then, in the fifth paragraph of the same article...

    "It (the Council of the Great City Schools) said testing amounts to 2.3 percent of classroom time for the average 8th-grader."

Well, whoop-dee-doo...

...three-tenths of one effing percent!

Soothe my palpitating heart.


Oh, well, read the news report for yourself...

...followed by a couple of other not-so-rave reviews of this "game-changing" announcement by the White House and the U.S. Department of Education.


From The Southern Illinoisan

Obama encouraging limits on standardized student tests


From Peter Greene's Blog

USED: Recycled Empty Course Change on Testing


From Diane Ravitch's Blog

BATs Respond to Arne’s Retreat on Testing