I found this cartoon on www.pioneer.net. It called my attention as it highlights a current attitude in American public systems due to the policy of high stakes testing. After discussions of the reading yesterday, I can see the beggining of standardized test with the Cardinal Priciples in 1917 and how the more recent NCLB has stacked on top of prior policy to make a significant change in the Grammar of School by increasing the importance of standardized tests.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
High Stakes Testing Cartoon
I found this cartoon on www.pioneer.net. It called my attention as it highlights a current attitude in American public systems due to the policy of high stakes testing. After discussions of the reading yesterday, I can see the beggining of standardized test with the Cardinal Priciples in 1917 and how the more recent NCLB has stacked on top of prior policy to make a significant change in the Grammar of School by increasing the importance of standardized tests.
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4 comments:
Nice cartoon and a good post. What does everyone think it's trying to say about testing, schools, and principals?
Do you all think standardized testing is an addition to the grammar of schooling or an essential part?
I think that the cartoon is def not a misconception of how our schools are viewed; standardized testing seems to be "the" major concern in many cases. I believe that standardized testing is an addition to the grammar of schooling simply because at one point, it was not all that it is now. Test scores don't prove everything about a school, its students, and certainly doesn't solely reflect teachers' practices. However, I do see it moving more toward an essential part since it is looked at so much more seriously now.
The cartoon is illustrating the close minded view of school progress through test scores. I think that standardize testing is essential in the grammer of schooling because it is a way of comparing productivity and maintaining consistency throughout the nation. It does, on the other hand, often overpower many of the other improvements schools have made towards education in their particular area.
I think it could also represent a sort of desperation that unfair expectations with regard to standardized testing have caused, for school administration as well as for teachers. I think this cartoon points out that, unfortunately, hard work and learning do not count for as much as test scores.
Standardized testing has definitely made its way into the grammar of schooling. I'm sure that some 'tinkering' will occur. However, if standardized testing were completely eliminated at this point, I believe that administrators, teachers, and parents would be quite upset.
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