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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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I also enjoyed the article...thank you for sharing. I am terribly concerned
with the amount of bench mark testing in public schools. While I agree there
needs to be consistency in measuring learning, I have seen too many schools
and teachers lashed into 'teaching to the tests.' I have always placed value
in enrichment/informal education given by community art centers and museums.
Now, more than ever, museums and other enrichment learning centers are
becoming more critical to advancing our minds and experiences. They are
becoming critical thinking palaces. How do museums and like-institutions
respond to the growing trend of test-teaching and national & state
educational standards?

Victoria



On Thu, Jul 7, 2011 at 8:12 AM, James Bell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Thanks for the dialogue, Eric. This is the part of the message that I think
> we need to keep in mind:
>
> "...look at which schools are most distorted by testing. As the education
> blogger Whitney Tilson has pointed out, the schools that best represent the
> reform movement, like the KIPP academies or the Harlem Success schools, put
> tremendous emphasis on testing. But these schools are also the places where
> students are most likely to participate in chess and dance. They are the
> places where they are most likely to read Shakespeare and argue about
> philosophy and physics. In these places, tests are not the end. They are a
> lever to begin the process of change."
>
> And as you (and Brooks) point out tests are one way of measuring change,
> and only part of a much larger ecology.
>
> Jamie
> ________________________________________
> From: Informal Science Education Network [[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Eric Meyer [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 6:51 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: testing in the news
>
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> James,
>
> Nice article.  Thanks.  I really liked the part about the 'mission [of
> the school] transcending the test'.
>
> I've been to some great schools and I've been to some bad ones and good
> leadership is always a huge plus.  I've also worked with children who
> know pi to 30 decimals but who had incredible trouble investigating the
> behavior of light [given lights, mirrors, and lenses].  Personally, I
> would rather be around people who knew how to figure things out instead
> of the person who knows a lot of answers.
>
> As a scientist, I understand the value of measuring things.
> Unfortunately, it seems to me that policy makers and district
> administrators are often more interested in the measurement itself and
> not enough in the students being measured.
>
> I also understand that you can measure 101 things and that doesn't mean
> they are useful for anything.  There are also many different ways you
> can measure something and each will give you a different result.
>
> What are good tools with which to measure?  How do we adapt those tools
> to an incredibly diverse population?  Humans are not widgets so the one
> size fits all application seems to be a huge flaw in learning or
> education.
>
> So, what is it that we want to measure regarding education?
>
> To the last line of the article, I would add - "If your school teaches
> to the test, it's not the test's fault. It's the leaders of your
> school." - and the people whom you elected to your school board and
> other offices.
>
> Education of our youth is the responsibility of us all - parent,
> teacher, neighbor, uncle, store owner, friend...
>
> I'm way over my 2 cents now.  How about a session proposal for 2012 or
> 2013 ASTC?
>
> Eric Meyer
> Explorations/Special Projects Manager
> Explora
> www.explora.us
>
> 1701 Mountain Rd. NW
> Albuquerque, NM 87104
>
> [log in to unmask]
> 505-224-8386 phone
> 505-224-8310 fax
>
> --
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