Posted on 03/29/2011 5:29:03 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Monday that students should take fewer standardized tests and school performance should be measured in other ways. Too much testing makes education boring for kids, he said.
"Too often what we have been doing is using these tests to punish students," the president told students and parents at a town hall hosted by the Univision Spanish-language television network at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C.
Obama, who is pushing a rewrite of the nation's education law that would ease some of its rigid measurement tools, said policymakers should find a test that "everybody agrees makes sense" and administer it in less pressure-packed atmospheres, potentially every few years instead of annually.
At the same time, Obama said, schools should be judged on criteria other than student test performance, including attendance rate.
[snip]
Obama, who has been pushing his education agenda all month, has expressed concern that too many schools will be unable to meet annual proficiency standards under the No Child Left Behind law this year. The standards are aimed at getting 100 percent of students proficient in math, reading and science by 2014, a goal now widely seen as unrealistic.
The Obama administration has proposed replacing those standards with a loftier yet less prescriptive requirement that by 2020 all students graduating from high school should be ready for college or a career.
Obama wants Congress to send him a rewrite of the 2001 law before the start of a new school year this fall. Although his education secretary, Arne Duncan, has been working hard with lawmakers of both parties, the deadline may be unrealistic with Congress focused on the budget and the economy. Congressional Republicans also look unwilling to sign off on Obama's plans to increase spending on education.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Honestly, this proves how ignorant Obama REALLY is.
The bar can not get lower.
I am speechless. The Teacher’s Union must LOVE him. Judged by attendance levels??? I am appalled that America was so stoooopid in November 2008.
I'm betting he didn't do well on tests.
As an educator, I very much agree.
This must be linked to his voting record as an Illinois state senator when he voted “present” so many times.
When I first saw this article, I thought it was satire.
He’s on a march to destroy.
Economy.
Energy.
NASA.
Education.
Health Care.
National Security.
Race Relations.
U.S.A.
Just when you think Zero couldn’t get any goofier, he goes and does it. This would be ROFL hysterical, if this blithering nincompoop weren’t President.
Oh, yeah. Obama is a REAL genius.
YES. And the Republican led House isn’t doing much to stop him.
My four year old grandson endured three hours of verbal examination to determine if he was ready for kindergaten
We need some William Wallace "Braveheart" courage on the GOP side of the Hill.
But I am encouraged by the states' growing resolve. Leadership will come from below and work it's way up. New faces and stronger stomachs are needed.
Really? Gracious! Is this an elite, limited enrollment, private school?
This is an outgrowth of the unfortunate fact that the federal government is even involved in education funding or regulation. I graduated HS in 1969. In the before era.
Before Serrano vs Priest and it’s progeny and before the Dept of Education. Local funding and control of schools worked pretty well. Parents knew when things weren’t working and they paid the taxes directly that funded the local schools.
Today, I’m not sure that’s possible. The NEA has such a stranglehold on the system, local school boards probably could not stand up to them. I’ve gotten to the point where I think you have to burn it down and start over.
Isn’t “attendance” how they judge prisons?
I remember a teacher once told me you learn from tests. I found that to be true, in my own education. I learned the flaw in my thinking and the imperative to correct my error by study. Is that not true with testing today?
Could have been a Bill Ayers speech on education.
If attendance becomes the primary manner of evaluating public schools, education will be secondary after the enforcement of attendance policies. The schools will have to hire even more deans and will ‘need’ to search homes for deliquents and will require greater levels of ‘verification’ for things like doctor’s appointments. And let us not forget doing away with Summer vacation.
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