England considers scrapping SATs
- Quote: The General Teaching Council for England has proposed scrapping national tests for seven, 11 and 14-year-old pupils because it says the stress caused by over-testing school children is poisoning attitudes towards education…A study submitted by the GTC to the House of Commons’ education select committee states that the current assessment regime in England “needs to be changedâ€. It claims that teachers are being forced to “drill†pupils to pass tests, rather than concentrate on giving them a broad education.
Note: I’ll still never forget the teacher in Florida telling me she was forced to read from a script to make sure her students had the best chance of doing well of the test. The UK is way ahead of us in this thinking.
– post by willrich
ABC News: Person of the Week: Ana Slavin and Nick Anderson
- Quote: While some teens might use the Internet to catch up with their friends, Nick Anderson and Ana Slavin took a look at social networking Web sites and realized they were teeming with potenital young donors for a charitable cause. The Massachusetts teens decided to raise funds for the plight in Darfur and challenged other teens across the country to pitch in through Facebook and MySpace.
Note: I’m seeing more and more examples like this…could it be the news tide is turning a bit?
– post by willrich
The UK government response to the GTC call for scrapping tests… “but parents value them”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6738063.stm
Oh! and tests have the backing of “The Campaign for Real Education” nuff said