Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Am I a Part of the Cure ... or the Disease? - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Am I a Part of the Cure ... or the Disease? - Bridging Differences - Education Week:


Am I a Part of the Cure ... or the Disease?

Michael J. Petrilli posts his second entry in Bridging Differences today.

"Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know, singing

Come out upon my seas
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure?
Or am I part of the disease?"
-Coldplay, "Clocks," A Rush of Blood to the Head, 2002
Dear Deborah,
I am haunted by the title of your post:
"The Testing Obsession Widens the Gap" Could this possibly be true? Is test-based school reform reducing opportunity for America's neediest children? Is everything for which we school reformers fight actually making things worse? Am I a part of the cure, or am I part of the disease?
###
"It's OK to ask: 'What if I'm wrong?'" you wrote last week. So let me ask it. It wouldn't be the first time. A year ago, for example, I explored the "test score hypothesis"—a line of reasoning, undergirding much of the reform