In this article, the author states that it is widely thought that understanding, imagination, strong character, courage, humility, and generosity are the six virtues of the educated person. He stresses that today's schools are driven by a definition that says educated people are those who score high on standardized tests. This definition is…

In this interview conducted by educator Arnold Dodge, education historian Diane Ravitch discusses what's wrong with the agenda of the "corporate reform movement." She notes that a current obsession with testing and a persistent blaming of teachers is subverting learning for students. The emphasis on competition, entrepreneurship, and…

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] is a global policy organization that includes the United States and about half of the Western Europe countries. It administers international comparison tests, called Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), for 15 year-old students in Mathematics and other subjects. I…

In this article, the author discusses the public discourse on education. On that subject, Republicans and Democrats speak the same language--and so, with striking uniformity, do more and more college and university leaders. The view of teaching and learning as an economic driver is a limited one, which puts at risk America's most distinctive…

This article presents the author's open letter to her students. In her letter, the author apologizes to her students for the state's narrow and deceptive standardized test. She asserts that she does not oppose rigorous testing and she understands the purpose of evaluation. A good test can measure achievement and even inspire. But, she argues that…

Jim Garrison's article (Garrison 2012) critiques current reforms in the United States for fostering a harmful "standardization" in schooling, which threatens to further undermine the country's democratic heritage and to prepare many students for servitude in an oppressive social order. John Dewey is cited throughout, as befits Professor…

Although using the five-paragraph formula to teach essay writing is a ubiquitous practice--and many K-12 teachers defend it--Campbell argues that having students write according to this formula does more harm than good. The formula's tight structure stops the very critical thinking students need to do to strengthen their cognition and their…

In this article, the author argues first, that critical-thinking skills do exist independent of disciplinary thinking skills and are not compromised by interaction effects with the major; and second, that standardized tests (e.g., the Collegiate Learning Assessment, or CLA, which is his example throughout the article) are the best way to measure…

As a public school English teacher, the author observes standardized testing season each year with a sort of grim fascination. "So this is it," she thinks as she paces around her silent classroom, peering over kids' shoulders at articles about parasailing. Line graphs tracking the rainfall in Tulsa. Parts of speech. Functions of "x." "These are…

Well before the examinations grade crisis of 2012, Michael Gove had set out clear intentions for reforming public examinations. Though he claimed to be improving examinations and assessment by replicating practices that took place in high-performing countries and thus improving the ability of the UK economy to "compete", this…

Pundits and bureaucrats use the results from international tests, particularly the PISA, to make claims about the quality of the public education system in the United States and make policy recommendations. In this article I argue, with evidence, that the scores and rankings from PISA are not important and that they cannot give policy makers or…

A recent NBER [National Bureau of Economic Research] working paper examines Florida's policy to retain many low-scoring third graders. The report concludes that third-grade retention has immediate positive effects on the following year's test results, but these effects fade over the next six years, with no effect on graduation. The regression…

Community colleges have been engaged for the last sixty years in providing open access to public higher education to anyone with a high school diploma. Recently, disappointing success rates for developmental students have driven some colleges to reduce or restrict access to college based on standardized test scores. The operative phrase in most of…

The report, "A world class mathematics education for all our young people," commissioned by the Conservative Party in 2009, produced by a Task Force chaired by Carol Vorderman, was published in August 2011. The document makes some sensible recommendations, many of which will be welcomed by the mathematics education community. In this…

Without a doubt, poverty has a negative influence on student achievement, especially when achievement is measured by state-mandated standardized tests. However, some bureaucrats, such as state commissioners of education and even state governors, continue to downplay the influence of poverty on student achievement. New Jersey's Governor Chris…