Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

School accountability can’t be myopic

The article in last Friday’s Dallas Morning news, “We’re failing: Texas is losing teachers and students with its high-stakes tests” is politically slanted due to its source, but none-the-less right on target and worth reading. The author, Chris Bell, is a Democratic contender in the Texas gubernatorial race. This statement is 100% on target:

But even if we fund our public schools at much higher levels, we will fail to get the results we seek because of a broken accountability system that looks at one test score as the sole measure of a student’s and a school’s success.

We have got to embrace continuing, authentic assessment systems that are as diverse as the students we serve. And we must prepare students for the 21st Century, as Chris notes in this article. Some of these ideas were the topic of my blog post last week, “Integrating Literacy and Technology Literacy Instruction in Preservice Education.”

I do take issue a bit with the following statement in the article:

Mr. Perry thinks he can use tests to make our kids smarter. A test won’t make you smarter, just like a ruler won’t make you taller. Tests aren’t the answer; they’re the best way to ask the question.

I am not sure Governor Perry or any other legislator really thinks tests can make kids smarter. I think they believe high stakes testing is an effective stick to raise teacher expectations of student performance, and thereby positively change the predominant instructional practices in Texas classrooms. Unfortunately, education is a complex issue, and expecting this linear falling of the causal dominoes is naive policymaking at best– a crime against the students and teachers involved in the system at worst.

I also disagree with Chris Bell that tests are “the best way to ask the question.” Objective tests are inherently limited because they reflect a world where there is one correct answer, instead of multiple perspectives and often diverse ways of approaching the same problem. Teaching and learning is a complex task. Chris and others who aspire to lead our state and help shape educational policy should read “John Dewey and the Art of Teaching : Toward Reflective and Imaginative Practice” (Douglas J. Simpson, Michael J. B. Jackson, Judy C. Aycock). We have suffered from the impacts of an overly simplistic educational reform policy (high stakes testing) that falsely perceives itself as the magic bullet to cure education’s ills too long. Why can’t we have leaders who listen to the educators, and listen to the students, and help both prepare for the future instead of the past?

Read more about Chris Bell and his ideas on www.chrisbell.com.

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