{"id":37725,"date":"2013-02-19T17:38:42","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T22:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=37725"},"modified":"2013-02-19T17:49:58","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T22:49:58","slug":"reflections-after-reading-warnings-from-the-trenches-flaherty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2013\/02\/19\/reflections-after-reading-warnings-from-the-trenches-flaherty\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections after reading ‘Warnings From the Trenches’ [Flaherty]"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Warnings from the trenches’<\/strong> <\/a>— from insidehighered.com by Colleen Flaherty<\/p>\n

Excerpt (emphasis DSC<\/span>):<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThus, students arriving in our high school lacked experience and knowledge about how to do the kinds of writing that are expected at higher levels of education,\u201d he wrote. And even though high school teachers may try their best to make up for lost time, they, too, are held accountable for standardized test scores. Beyond mandatory state tests, the broad scope of Advanced Placement exams can have the same short-sighted effect on instruction, he added (many of Bernstein\u2019s courses were AP U.S. government and politics).<\/p>\n

Consequently, he said in an interview, students now arriving at college — even elite ones — are better at “filling in bubbles” than thinking outside a discrete set of multiple choices, in the ways the higher education and\u00a0adult life\u00a0demand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bernstein said he\u2019d planned on retiring from his Maryland high school several years from now, but decided to leave last month due to a combination of factors, including the increasingly frustrating nature of teaching in a test-focused system.<\/p>\n

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From DSC:<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
I saw a question out on the blogosphere the other day that asked, “After the SATs are gone, then what?”\u00a0<\/strong> I’d like to see us pursue that line of thinking<\/strong>, as we need to strive to do more things for students’<\/em> learning and not so much because that’s the most efficient way to “manage” education.\u00a0 (I wonder about CMS’s\/LMS’s in this regard as well.)\u00a0 My vote is for helping students identify<\/strong> their God-given talents, interests, passions, abilities and to help them develop<\/strong> those gifts — creating WIN-WIN situations throughout society and the globe. Assessment is a key element of teaching and learning, but I think we’ve gone too far with these standardized tests — the pendulum needs to swing back the other way.
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Also see:<\/em><\/p>\n

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