The Duchess of Dumb
Jill Stewart gets things off her chest in today's New Times (Los Angeles). Ms. Stewart isn't too fond of state assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, and after reading today's article I can understand why. Her commentary on Jackie's attitudes toward testing is priceless, and I have to quote it at length:
"Goldberg is livid about the sustained gains in literacy and student achievement, reported all over California, following a return two years ago to stricter academics. She despises the traditional teaching of reading and math, enforcement of higher academic expectations, tests that compare student achievement at similar schools to each other, cash awards made to the most improved bad schools, and many other great reforms. The plain fact is, Goldberg cannot accept that these big academic improvements, shown by test scores at many of the worst schools, are disproving her own unbending beliefs about what causes student failure. You see, Goldberg is a former L.A. principal who put student "self-esteem" far ahead of academics"
Ah, one of those. I'm constantly bemused by the people who feel that self-esteem must be directly and automatically imparted, rather than earned through performance or mastery of skills, and that any form of challenge, such as a difficult standardized test, is inherently damaging to self-esteem. Such thinking runs counter to a great deal of psychological and educational theory, not to mention good old-fashioned horse-sense.
"Goldberg's bills would give teacher unions power in choosing curricula, ban crucial literacy tests in second grade and put teachers in charge of creating the tests that measure teachers."
I'm waiting for the day that someone suggests allowing students to be in charge of creating the tests that measure students. Hey, it's based on the same logic.
"Ineffective teachers, horrible teachers, good teachers in bad situations, burned out teachers who mean well -- all are equally protected from negative consequences. Indeed, the California Teacher's Association and other teacher lobbying groups made sure that we, the public, can never find out how any particular teacher is doing in addressing the illiteracy or other academic troubles of his or her students. Few people realize that test results by classroom are not public information in California. "
Indeed, I didn't realize that. I don't know how many states do release test results at the classroom level, though; that's something I'd have to research. Ms. Stewart doesn't specify which California tests she's referring to here, but I assume she means the STAR .