WEA'S TACTICS WITH STATE WON'T IMPRESS PUBLIC
HIGH-STAKES TESTING: ANOTHER ANALYSIS
BIOLOGY TEXTBOOK CHANGES CRITICIZED
THE BIGOTRY OF "BLAINE AMENDMENTS"
AP COURSES NOT FOR EVERYONE, EDUCATOR SAYS
WEA'S TACTICS WITH STATE WON'T IMPRESS PUBLIC
"The state teachers' union needs a remedial lesson in public relations. Despite evidence that its in-your-face political tactics have backfired, the Washington Education Association continues to dig itself into a deeper hole. It's not doing its members, or the state's children, any favors."
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HIGH-STAKES TESTING: ANOTHER ANALYSIS
"Amrein and Berliner (2002b) compared National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results in high-stakes states against the national average for NAEP scores. They studied NAEP scores for 8th grade mathematics, 4th grade mathematics, and 4th grade reading. They concluded that states that introduced consequences (high-stakes) to their statewide tests did not show any particular gains in their statewide NAEP scores. However, there was no comparison group in their analysis. In this analysis, a comparison group was formed from states that did not attach consequences to their state-wide tests. This analysis showed that states that attached consequences outperformed the comparison group of states on each of the three NAEP tests for the last four-year period. These results showed that, overall, these was a meaningful carryover from attaching consequences on statewide tests to statewide NAEP scores."
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BIOLOGY TEXTBOOK CHANGES CRITICIZED
"The publisher of a biology textbook being considered for adoption in Texas has submitted changes in response to suggestions by the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based nonprofit that critics claim is leading a push to teach alternatives to evolution in public schools. . . Richard Blake, a spokesman for Holt, acknowledged Discovery 'is seen as having a particular point of view' but said the changes responded to valid scientific arguments. "Publishers are obligated to respond to comments without considering where they come from," Blake said. 'We see these as minor changes and clarifications and certainly nothing that challenges the role of evolution.'"
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THE BIGOTRY OF "BLAINE AMENDMENTS"
"In his autobiography, Henry Adams said, 'A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.' This is true for politicians as well. Quoting Adams usually implies only a positive influence, but it may also be negative. The legacy of James G. Blaine is an unfortunate example."
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AP COURSES NOT FOR EVERYONE, EDUCATOR SAYS
I want to share Shaffer's story of how he came to hate the expansion of AP so much that he quit his job at Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf, Md., before I get into the broader significance of his experience and his views for the future of AP, which, as far as I can tell after 20 years of watching it closely, has done more to improve U.S. high schools than any other program during that period.
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