Oso planning to go pro
Down 1 w 5 seconds left. Doable.
There are some universities that have taken the initiative to make standardized test scores optional, instead focusing more on GPA, courses taken, extra-curriculars, etc.
Of course, once you gave the imperial bureaucracy a lot of power, and made entrance into said bureaucracy conditional on passing a tough exam, what you have is ... a country run by people who think that being good at exams is the most important thing on earth.
Which is even more problematic because an A in biology at one high school is equivalent to a C at another. This the need for standardized tests because the quality of high schools from one district to another can be difficult to gauge.
This is rich beyond belief. The most dedicated defenders of affirmative action (based on economics, not race) could use your argument as their most convincing and compelling one. Absolute evaluations which give no consideration to context are by their very nature unfair. Getting a 30 on the ACTs after 8 years of Winnetka grammar schools, 3 years of New Trier and thousands spent on test prep is NOT a better score than a 29 after 8 years at Suder elementary followed by 3 years at Simeon. Not taking context into the equation is discrimination. Period.
1430 SAT (740 Math, 690 Verbal)30 ACT (32, 32, 32, 26)These are scores from 1983 and I have no idea what they translate to today. I had a college prep curriculum, but took no extra classes.
The Oliver piece wasn't about the SAT/ACT, but about standardized testing throughout a child's academic career....and it was brilliant.
It was formulaic....plug and play....same old same old every week. Some really good stuff, some pretty poor stuff, all mixed in. He hits plenty of good points, misses badly on some others. Sounds like many of us here on Scoop.
Which is even more problematic because an A in biology at one high school is equivalent to a C at another. Thus the need for standardized tests because the quality of high schools from one district to another can be difficult to gauge.
The huge variability between high schools is a fact. My kids are fortunate to have gone to very strong public schools, and got mostly As. Now in college, they are continuing to do very well. But they're in class with kids who likewise got mostly As in high school, and are suddenly C or D students. When their friends struggle with "new" concepts, my kids are amazed because they learned many of those concepts years ago.
What are Oliver's solutions?
No Child Left Behind is part of the federalization of education. Do you think government should run local public schools?
As long as the local public schools aren't teaching creationism, intelligent design or such nonsense.
I'm not John Oliver, but instead of an over-abundance of testing, and instead of using such objective metrics to determine the value of a teacher, I would have......taken a look to see why students from other countries are better at math and science. What do they do in the classrooms? What is their curricula like? How does it differ from what takes place in US classrooms?...require principals to evaluate teachers as professionals. I agree that teachers unions have traditionally been a problem. It has de-professionalized the occupation. I know a number of principals, and they know who the good teachers are. Allow them to reward the high performers, and point out and eventually fire the low performers. Objective measurements can play a part in that, but ultimately a teacher's job can't simply be measured objectively.Give me some time and I can think of more.
I can get on board with some of these. A teacher's job, in my opinion, has to be measured to some degree objectively. There is a fiduciary responsibility to do that, especially with unions involved. That doesn't mean all of it, but it has to be a significant portion to it. Other countries also slot their students into certain paths early on. I'm not sure that's what we want, but just pointing out the grass is always greener argument isn't necessarily the case either.School choice...why don't we have it?So on and so forth.
Lots of simple and good ideas here. I'd suggest:1) Measure principles and not teachers. Different teachers are better cut out for different schools, and the Principle should be measured on how well he/she builds a team to improve the performance of their school2) Benchmark other countries (already mentioned)3) Kill teachers unions, and allow Principles to attract, let go of talent as they see fit (just like any other successful organization does)