Forum: "Add Tests and Stir"

"Add Tests and Stir: Education Reform in the 21st Century"
March 31, 2015
Fairfield University

Speakers:

Wendy Lecker
Senior Attorney, Education
Law Center, New Jersey

Jonathan Pelto
Former Deputy Majority Leader
CT House of Representatives

Thomas Scarice
Superintendent of Schools
Madison, CT

Yohuru Williams, PhD
Associate Vice President
Academic Affairs, Fairfield University

So, we're in the midst of a great social reformation.  In this time of tremendous change, Tom Scarice emphasized that we should "never stop asking the hard questions."  The hard questions at the core of this education forum centered on the topic of standardized testing.  Is it helping or hurting our schools?  More importantly, are we investing our time in test scores: mere numbers, when we should be focusing on learning, individualized achievement, and fostering creativity?

Wendy Lecker pointed out that standardized tests have nothing to do with children's lives.  She went on to ad a tinge of humor within a hard truth: "The goal is not to win some imaginary contest with China."  Rather, it is our job as educators to foster responsible citizens who have been exposed to an array of experiences that will enrich their lives.  Theater, dance, art, music, athletics, literature, poetry... We must integrate worthy substance into the classroom for children to concentrate on, engage with, and experience.  

The great orator and Civil Rights Activist, Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, "Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."  Our highly strenuous and intense focus on raising test scores is not building character.  It's squelching the arts and the students.

This is not to say that we should rule out all benchmark tests, but perhaps there is a better way to approach them with a better balance, and an attention to the children's core needs as developing members of our society.

In the News:
What Happens When Students Boycott a Standardized Test?

(April 9, 2015) The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/04/what-happens-when-students-boycott-a-standardized-test/390087/