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YUP! It all started in 2003, when these companies, the SAT (the College Board) and the ACT decided to no longer let readers know that a test was given in a nonstandard way to a student who had an accommodation for that nonstandarized testing. See my article at the time, disabling the SAT, http://educationnext.org/disablingthesat/ The rush to get accommodations (especially for more time) started then and has continued to grow and expand-- especially among those who can play the game of [...]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/colleges-bend-the-rules-for-more-students-give-them-extra-help-1527154200# Check it out. Very sad for our colleges and standards, as I see it. But not surprising for those of us who have watched the troubling and unfortunately, predictable dive from standards, starting in 2003 when the SAT and ACT stopped "flagging" tests given with nonstandard accommdations. See my piece at the time, http://educationnext.org/disablingthesat/ What are we doing as a [...]

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/05/02/why-im-against-innovation-in-education.html Thank you, Mike Schmoker, for this important and necessary Commentary. You are so right! We need more (objective, not-agenda-or advocacy-driven) researchers and educators to speak up for effective educational practices and results. What's missing, though, is any mention of special education--the arena filled with agenda-driven, faddish, mandated, and yet, unproven approaches. Beyond [...]

https://nypost.com/2018/05/02/rich-parents-are-using-doctors-notes-to-help-kids-cheat-the-sats/ When will this ever end? What will be the tipping point? How unfair can we be? Testing companies need to preserve test validity-- that's the product they are supposedly selling--tests that are STANDARDIZED to measure all students fairly and in the same way. So, they have a choice. Either stop timing these tests for everyone or bring back notification that the extended time test results [...]

Silicon Valley --where so much technology, which we now realize can be very addictive, is created, is often for other people's children. Many parents in SV don't allow their OWN to use it, or very much limit their children's use, and choose schools (private, of course), where technology is not used--even as they keep on selling this stuff to public schools across the US. In fact, more low-tech private schools are popping but, even as tech sales to public schools for other people's [...]

Thank you, Diane, for posting and James Harvey of the Superintendents' Roundtable, for reminding us. We don't live in Lake Wobegon where all kids are above average. Honestly, can all kids will be proficient? https://dianeravitch.net/2018/04/10/james-harvey-dont-be-fooled-by-naep-proficient/ Raising false expectations leads to a loss of trust in our schools. Remember 2014 when the NCLB mandated (?) that all kids were to be proficient. How did that work out for us?

https://edsource.org/2018/facing-unprepared-kindergartners-a-rural-school-district-restores-preschool-for-all/595667?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email Wonderful story. PBS--proficiency-based schools--is the way forward, as I see it. Let's help kids BEFORE they fall behind. Let's get them ready for kindergarten. Here's a story about early childhood programs in California's Lindsay Unified School District. While it's certainly a step in the right direction, I also believe in [...]

When will they (we) ever learn? http://www.aei.org/publication/dc-graduation-scandal-shows-how-an-uncritical-gaze-leads-reformers-astray/ And see comments, especially by John Merrow pointing to the many times he raised red flags that went unheeded. I worry that the next "reform" bubble that will eventually burst, after it damages our schools and students, is the push to put a lap top in front of every little child in the name of "personalized instruction" and 21st century [...]

https://medium.com/@miriamkfreedman/why-i-am-an-optimist-about-fixing-special-education-4c3a09cccae In the piece, I write that when the public learns what's really going on in our schools--step by step--and when they've finally had enough--change will happen--and happen fast! The article lays out several areas of deep concern and sketches three broad solutions. Please feel free to share and repost this piece. The more the better!

An unlikely pair--Jamie and Diane. Thanks for the pickup, Diane. They agree that we need to bring back real literature for our children. The Common Core's "Informational texts" are a poor substitute. They do and have already led to declines in student achievement--the dumbing down of America. Bring back Frankenstein! https://dianeravitch.net/2018/03/15/jamie-gass-frankenstein-lost-to-common-core/ Thanks you Jamie and Diane!