Beyond the midterms: Helping students overcome the impact of No Child Left Behind
November 21, 2018
link: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2018/11/21/beyond-the-midterms-helping-students-overcome-the-impact-of-no-child-left-behind/?fbclid=IwAR0kJJmbzBQuWonPtvMJn9x7oU8Ls6NVee8e8B34OW-a42JiRK3IVqeo3as
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International comparisons reveal that American students are not as strong as others at defending arguments or critically evaluating a text. Their Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores in critical reading hover around the international average, placing the U.S. 24th among participating countries….
WHAT IS GOING ON? WHY ARE TODAY’S COLLEGE JUNIORS SO ILL-PREPARED FOR ESSAY EXAMS?
Here’s a thought: Today’s juniors in college are the first cohort of students who spent their entire public education under the educational reform law known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
… Scientific research strongly suggests that testing helps students learn. Yet, for this to be the case, it is important to give the right kind of tests. Those adopted by the states in response to NCLB were largely fill-in-the-blank, one-right-answer tests that never asked students to defend a position or to find different pathways to come to a defensible conclusion. In fact, many contend that NCLB, and to some extent the testing craze that has continued under the implementation of the Common Core, is the antithesis of the active learning approach that has been endorsed repeatedly by those who study the science of learning.