Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaglavak
I am in favor of standardized testing too. It's not enough to say students should be exposed to this or that subject. If they can't answer questions and solve problems in that subject then they don't know it. Standardized testing is a good way to find out if a particular school distict is doing a crappy job of preparing their students.
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The thing is, standardized testing was around long before DEd. Some of us will recall being subjected to the Iowa Basic Skills Test (Estab. 1935) on an annual basis through the eighth grade. I have no idea how widely that was/is used, but surely there were other standardized test programs to choose from, too.
I think my basic attitude towards federal involvement in education is similar to Puna's. Basic education has long been regarded as a
local matter (thus the continued existence of a zillion school boards). Having Washington promulgate rules for everyone works as well as it does when some corporate suit at the home office dreams up rules for the field, rules that we drones in the trenches regard as bullshit because we know how our jobs actually work while the suit does not. One-size-fits-all
never works.
I do see some utility in the Fed providing money and mandates for certain things that some local boards might be disinclined to do, such as Special Ed. Just be sure all mandates are
funded.