CNN/YouTube Debate: Testing in Education

[JayPowell1931]

JayPowell1931The problem with education is that we remove the so called wrong answers when we score tests before we use the test results. When we do this we have no way of knowing where our students are stuck or when they had good ideas we didn't expect. Education cannot be fixed with this much important information gone into cyberspace,

[michelle1759]

my biggest problem with NCLB is that it undermines teacher professionalism and encroaches on our day-to-day plans. Instead of teaching kids to be critical thinkers, we teach them testing strategies, i.e. ways to manipulate tests. It's too high stakes, for kids who can't graduate without passing, to schools who are labeled failing even though they made so much growth from the year before. See the video in my profile in response to a book called Testing is not teaching. You may want to read it...

[SparklestheClown]

Part of our problem is that we should be providing opportunities and financing to education, no matter what the testing is. Not all kids are created equal. So what. We each still should have a chance for education and quality. There is enough money, it just has to be put in the right places.

[kristikclark]

Great question!!! The No Child Left Behind fiasco is creating a world where teachers just "teach to the test" meaning that rather than actually teaching our students meaningful information, they're acting rather as coaches coaching the kids to be able to pass these standardized tests which don't even evaluate practical knowledge. The people who pass the laws governing our schools haven't stepped foot in a classroom for 1 minute, so they have no clue what needs to be done to teach children.

[BoboTalkClownA]

Thank you! I hope this is played.

[j0eg0d]

The results of each test creates the budgeting for finances from the Board Of Education.

We've been awarding schools reporting higher testing scores all along, while most public schools recieve very little funding.

Democrats been designed advantages to equate higher percentages based on minority status which allow greater funding by the School Boards.

I firmly believe we need to change that system of budgeting for schools, so we're not punishing our children for low test scores.