Requesting Testing

RETHINKING SCHOOLS Summer 2002 Requesting Testing By Alfie Kohn One of the most disturbing educational consequences of high-stakes testing has been the diminution or even elimination of activities that are not tested.  If it’s not on the exam, it doesn’t count – and so teachers feel they don’t have the luxury of holding class meetings to promote democratic decision-making, or … Read More

Fighting the Toxic Status Quo

ENGLISH EDUCATION January 2002 “Fighting the Toxic Status Quo” Alfie Kohn on Standardized Tests and Teacher Education By Deborah Appleman and Micheal J. Thompson Q.: What motivates the movement for teacher testing? It sometimes seems as if it arises from a basic mistrust of teachers. ALFIE KOHN: Well, I think we’re living through a very dark period in American education where testing … Read More

September 11 (**)

RETHINKING SCHOOLS Winter 2001-02 September 11 By Alfie Kohn Some events seem momentous when they occur but gradually fade from consciousness, overtaken by fresh headlines and the distractions of daily life.  Only once in a great while does something happen that will be taught by future historians.   Just such an incident occurred on September 11.  The deadly attacks on New … Read More

Beware of the Standards, Not Just the Tests (**)

EDUCATION WEEK September 26, 2001 Beware of the Standards, Not Just the Tests By Alfie Kohn A number of prominent educators are finally raising their voices against standardized testing—particularly multiple-choice, norm-referenced tests; particularly tests with “high stakes” (read: bribes and threats) attached; and particularly in the context of a federal mandate to force every state to test every student in … Read More

Five Reasons to Stop Saying “Good Job!” (**)

YOUNG CHILDREN September 2001 Five Reasons to Stop Saying “Good Job!” By Alfie Kohn NOTE: An abridged version of this article was published in Parents magazine in May 2000 with the title “Hooked on Praise.” For a more detailed look at the issues discussed here — as well as a comprehensive list of citations to relevant research — please see the books Punished … Read More

Emphasis on Testing Leads to Sacrifices in Other Areas (**)

USA Today August 21, 2001 Emphasis on Testing Leads to Sacrifices in Other Areas By Alfie Kohn Even as teachers ready their lesson plans for the new school year, they are keeping a wary eye on Washington, D.C. A congressional conference committee next month is expected to hammer out a version of President Bush’s plan to require standardized testing for … Read More

One-Size-Fits-All Education Doesn’t Work

BOSTON GLOBE June 10, 2001 One-Size-Fits-All Education Doesn’t Work By Alfie Kohn People who call for national education standards may have either of two ideas in mind. Both are intuitively appealing, but neither survives closer scrutiny. The first meaning of standards has to do with outcomes: Here’s how well we expect students to do. Of course, all students deserve a … Read More

Two Cheers for an End to the SAT (**)

THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION March 9, 2001 Two Cheers for an End to the SAT By Alfie Kohn One imagines the folks at the College Board blushing deeply when, a few years back, they announced that the “A” in SAT no longer stood for “Aptitude.” Scarlet, after all, would be an appropriate color to turn while, in effect, conceding … Read More

Education’s Different Drummer

WASHINGTON POST January 9, 2001 Education’s Different Drummer Alfie Kohn Is Marching Against Standardized Learning, and He Has Gained a Nationwide Following By Jay Mathews Washington Post Staff Writer One day in 1967, a sweet-faced, bespectacled fifth-grader at Leroy D. Fienberg Elementary School in Miami Beach was given a class assignment. No one remembers what it was about, which is … Read More