Rescuing Our Schools from “Tougher Standards”

“Making students accountable for test scores works well on a bumper sticker and it allows many politicians to look good by saying that they will not tolerate failure. But it represents a hollow promise. Far from improving education, high- stakes testing marks a major retreat from fairness, from accuracy, from quality, and from equity.”

– Sen. Paul Wellstone (1944-2002)

A plague has been sweeping through American schools, wiping out the most innovative instruction and beating down some of the best teachers and administrators. Ironically, that plague has been unleashed in the name of improving schools. Invoking such terms as “tougher standards,” “accountability,” and “raising the bar,” people with little understanding of how children learn have imposed a heavy-handed, top-down, test-driven version of school reform that is lowering the quality of education in this country.It has taken some educators and parents a while to realize that the rhetoric of “standards” is turning schools into giant test-prep centers, effectively closing off intellectual inquiry and undermining enthusiasm for learning (and teaching). It has taken even longer to realize that this is not a fact of life, like the weather — that is, a reality to be coped with — but rather a political movement that must be opposed.

HOW TO OPPOSE IT:
Practical Strategies to
Save Our Schools

WHY TO OPPOSE IT:
The Case Against
Tougher Standards
(and a word about NCLB)

WHERE TO FIND MORE INFORMATION:
References and Resources

The Essence of the Tougher Standards Movement