Tim Stahmer over at Assorted Stuff has this post today:
Of all places for a revolution: the state of Nebraska has decided not to use standardized tests to evaluate their students. Rather than give kids the traditional multiple choice exams to assess their reading and math skills, schools around the state are allowed to decide for themselves how to best demonstrate student learning through the use of portfolios. And what’s more amazing, the feds have approved it. The Nebraska Commissioner of Education certainly has the right idea!
"I don’t give a damn what No Child Left Behind says," Christensen said. "I think education is far too complex to be reduced to a single score. We decided we were going to take No Child Left Behind and integrate it into our plan, not the other way around. If it’s bad for kids, we’re not going to do it."
I admit, I had never heard about this, and I’ve asked him to follow up with where he got the Christensen quote, but a google search on Nebraska NCLB and Portfolio came up with a very powerful document. The first link is a PDF file of the accountability worksheet that Nebraska filed explaining how they were going to meet NCLB standards.
UPDATE: The source for this case is the Seattle Times
Like this:
Like Loading...