Due to protests of educators, students and organizations such as
Californians for Justice, and massive budget cuts, and the
realization that most students would have failed the state’s exit
exam, the state has postponed the exam.
Dear Editor:
Due to protests of educators, students and organizations such as Californians for Justice, and massive budget cuts, and the realization that most students would have failed the state’s exit exam, the state has postponed the exam.
The entire system of testing must be re-evaluated.
Our current state of “test mania” as directed by President Bush, Gov. Davis and state legislators requires teachers to subject children to meaningless drill-and-skill instruction, based on memorizing disconnected facts so they can take tests.
The current education reform movement blames administrators, teachers and students for the disparity in test results but fails to ask why people of color and low-income students perform at lower levels.
Instead of the current system, which is punitive, and demoralizing for teachers and students, which focuses on identifying under-performing schools and punishing people of color and low-income families, we need a system that identifies students who need additional help and provides the support they need.
We need a system of accountability that supports learning, which includes teacher-generated assessments and individual student portfolios that evaluate their individual progress throughout the year, instead of the current end-of-the-year test results (which are not useful).
Children and adolescents are not factory parts that can be lumped into a single category. They are individual human beings that develop independently.
Education should be an interesting, challenging, multi-cultural experience that exposes children to meaningful information that will help them grow into adults who will contribute positively to their families and community.
Joe Navarro
teacher, Sunnyslope School
