How to Promote High Stakes Testing: Lie

How to Promote High Stakes Testing: Lie

High stakes testing has been embedded in our national system of education funding since No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law. The law, pushed by then President George W. Bush and his family friends at McGraw-Hill Publishing, was promoted by citing the “Texas Miracle” in the Houston schools http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2006/08/mcgraw-hill-bush-graft-and-twig.html . It turns out that the exemplar of testing achievement that helped sell this nation NCLB was fabricated,

“In the late 1990's, Texas claimed dramatic increases in test scores and high school graduation rates. The jump was so high that observers nationwide were calling it the "Texas Miracle," a phenomenon that led Rod Paige, Houston's superintendent of education at the time onto the national stage. He later served as Bush's secretary of education. By 2004, the "Texas Miracle" was found to be a total sham. Teachers and administrators were fudging data.”
http://news.change.org/stories/when-test-scores-are-too-good-to-be-true

So, the high stakes testing regimen faced by schools all over this nation was based on a lie, and that lie has produced millions in sales for CTB/McGraw-Hill, makers of testing materials and Friends to President Bush. That was only the start of the lies used to sell No Child Left Behind and other high stakes testing models. These lies are also used to sell private, charter, and other corporate school models while attacking teachers and their unions.

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For the rest of the article, go here: http://texshelters.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/how-to-promote-high-stakes-testing-lie/

Peace,
Tex Shelters