"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

No need to test every student

Sent to the Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2015
The House version of the new education law will continue annual testing of reading and math for every student in grades 3-8 and once in high school  ("Education Law Vote Is Pushed Back," April 27).
There is no need to test every student every year. We can get the same information from low-pressure testing of small samples of students, each student taking only a part of the test, and extrapolating the results to larger groups, as is now done with the NAEP test.  This will save money, reduce anxiety, and give teachers more time to teach.
When you go to the doctor, they don't take all your blood. They only take a sample.
Stephen Krashen
Original article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/education-law-set-for-vote-in-house-1425053836?KEYWORDS=Education

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