FOCUS: Reduction in school testing necessary to expand students’ minds

By Holly Moore  |  Education stories, particularly public school education stories, often dominate our news. You can’t escape the latest study or data pointing to successes and far too often failures.

Moore

Moore

Bureaucrats, with little to no education background, weigh in on the best way to “fix” our schools. Systems explore the next big trend in teaching.  Both of these groups have in recent years relied on standardized test results to support their new initiatives.  The news that the Obama administration will cut back on standardized testing is a step in the right direction for our nation’s public school students.

Albert Einstein said, “Education is not the learning of facts, it’s rather the training of the mind to think.”

Prior to school beginning this past August, several local school systems announced their development of new school initiatives. These initiatives were directly related to the desire of parents to see their children being taught to think and to explore the world around them – whether it be through the arts, science and math, language, honors programs, nature programs, etc.  The argument was that if the school model changes, parents won’t leave public school systems for private school options.  Equally important to remember, however, is that many of those departing public schools are doing so because of the proliferation of standardized testing.

Why not allow existing public schools to focus more on education instead of rote memorization?  Why not allow more time for in-depth projects or studies at all grade levels and schools?

Ask teachers and most will agree that education should be about training the mind to think.  However, given today’s emphasis on standardized test results, public school teachers have been compelled to spend far too much time drilling facts into students’ minds. There is not a lot of time left for training these young minds to think independently.

And yet, countless teachers do educate — as it is defined above.  Some work for systems that encourage out-of-the-box creativity, while others carve out the time within their teach-to-the-test schedules because they are passionate about education.

I’ve seen local examples: an alternative school fourth grade teacher whose students, unrestrained by standardized testing norms, spent the final weeks of the last school year researching how technology in the world has impacted disease.

A fifth grade teacher in a metro Title 1 public school conducted a college/career fair for her students. Students chose their dream career and researched a university or training program that would prepare them for that career. They learned about prerequisites and career options, they learned about courses they need to start taking now to pursue those careers.  Photographs of their projects revealed not only thorough research but also a sense of excitement about the possibilities.  Simply put, their research expanded their horizons.

The examples involve students from all socio-economic levels with varying parental support.

All students need the ability to research, problem solve, and think creatively equally as much as they need to meet data-driven standards.  While I applaud local public schools for trying to keep families within their system, new school models aren’t necessarily needed to achieve success. Families do not leave successful schools.  Success is achievable when teachers are given the freedom, time and ample resources to educate.  A reduction in the number of yearly administered standardized tests is a necessary first step in allowing teachers to focus more on the expansion of young minds.

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