Weekly News Log Education
Go to www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate. Scroll down to find the list of topics. Choose one of the topics. On the left side of the screen, the topic is explained.
- What is the basic question being discussed? It could be a yes or no question like “Should graduation requirements be higher?” Copy or paraphrase the question here and provide a link to the exact web page:
How can we measure the results of students and teachers in a way that is fair and doesn’t result in obsessive testing or cheating?
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/29/can-school-performance-be-measured-fairly
- On the right side of the screen is a list of debaters and the names of the organizations they are associated with. Scan some of the articles and choose two debaters with different opinions to read more carefully. List them here:
- Leonie Haimson
- Pedro Noguera
Debater One
Name: Leonie Haimson
Position and Institution or Group: Executive Director of an advocacy group called, Class Size Matters.
- Haimson supports the idea of using portfolio assessment, peer review and student and parent surveys to evaluate progress.
- She claims that the benefit or positive result will be that erratic or unreliable tests will not determine important decisions.
- In the last paragraph, Haimson rejects the practice of using more and more standardized test in schools.
- She claims the harm or negative result will be that it will become impossible to have a complete and diverse curriculum or to treat teachers like professionals.
I think… that Haimson has some good points. I agree that standardized tests treat people like machines. As a teacher I know that tests don’t always show the student’s best work. I also think that too much emphasis on testing makes school less enjoyable for students and teachers. Students enjoy school when they can work on an idea and understand it and share it with others. Also, so much English and math testing make it hard for schools to give effort to art and music and to deeper and more meaningful research in other areas. On the other hand, it’s important for students to learn and remember information and I think that some tests are important for both students and teachers to see what was really learned.
Debater Two
Name: Pedro Noguera
Institution or Group: Professor at New York University
- Prof. Noguera supports the idea of judging schools like we judge hospitals, on quality of service and results.
- Prof. Noguera claims that the benefit or positive result will be that society will need to correct the inequality in school results.
- Prof. Nogura rejects the idea that that students, teachers and principals are the only ones held responsible when schools fail.
- Prof. Noguera claims the harm or negative result is that the politicians who create the rules for schools don’t think carefully because they are not taking responsibility.
I think it’s true that politicians don’t accept their responsibility. They find it too easy to blame parents or teachers or students or communities. They’ll blame anyone and everyone before they admit that they’re not experts on education and they don’t know what’s best for schools. I don’t know that much about how hospitals are evaluated but I have heard a lot of bad stories about hospitals’ inefficiency and mistakes.
