Posts Tagged ‘ Testing ’

In Defense of Childhood

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While not specifically about homeschooling, an article by Brian Gresko, a stay-at-home dad and writer, explains his view that childhood is under attack by the very people who should be protecting it: parents. His article In Defense of Childhood: Let Kids Be Kids! explains: Many of the most important skills are untestable — imagination,...
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Testing, Assessments and Reform

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The effort to develop a new assessment system is the subject of a commentary by Robert Rothman: A Seamless System of Assessments Is testing a waste of time? Teachers seem to think so. In a 2006 survey, 71 percent of them said that students took too many standardized tests, and 62 percent called testing...
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Shifts in Testing

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Education Week continues to follow reform. In a piece on the competition to develop new testing systems we learn: Competition opened yesterday for $350 million in federal money to design new ways of assessing what students learn. Rules for the contest make clear that the government wants to leave behind multiple-choice testing more often...
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Experts Lay Out Vision for Future Assessments

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Education Week’s site has another piece on the future of education, this one on assessements: Led by Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond, a panel of experts outlined a comprehensive system that includes summative and formative tests of higher-order thinking skills, reflecting a marketplace that they say places increasing value on such skills. They urged...
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Why Kindergarten-Admission Tests Are Worthless

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A lengthy exploration of IQ testing for kindergarten placement from the New York magazine’s website adds to the growing chorus of those questioning of the role of tests in our kids lives. This article’s focus is on kindergarten placement tests but also touches on issues of class, equality, corporate influence, and, offers insights into...
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Alaska Bill Tries to Kill High School Exit Exam

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As educational reform moves forward we see more reality based actions in the states: A high school exit exam is keeping hundreds of Alaska students from earning diplomas and jobs for which they’re otherwise qualified, proponents of repealing the test told a state Senate committee Friday. Educators and parents from around the state testifying...
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Test, Punish, and Push Out

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This 56 page report by the Advancement Project subtitled, How Zero Tolerance and High-Stakes Testing Funnel Youth into the School to Prison Pipeline is not a surprise but to see it backed with documentation is an eye opener. From the Advancement Project’s download page: Test, Punish, and Push Out: How Zero Tolerance and High-Stakes...
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“Proving” homeschooling with test scores

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In Dr. Brian Ray’s discussion, of the West “Harms” article he writes: To set the stage for this discussion, a very brief summary of research on home education is important. Repeated studies by many researchers and data provided by United States state departments of education show that home-educated students consistently score, on average, well...
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Making a Stand for the Traditional Classroom

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The first reading of new restriction put forth by the governing board of Gilbert Arizona’s public schools address testing, assessments, record keeping, credits, online courses and involvement in student oganizations for homeschoolers. Board to consider homeschool, online class restrictions by Emily Gersema, The Arizona Republic The Gilbert Public Schools governing board is mulling a...
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Homeschoolers and Achievement Tests

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Dr. Yvonne Fournier answering questions from a homeschooling family which moved to a testing state. Some highlights about the inherent tension between homeschooling and achievement tests: Hassle-Free Homework: Achievement Tests Contribute To America’s Decline By Dr. Yvonne Fournier, U.S. School System Discourages Divergent, Creative Thinkers In a world that begs for divergent thinkers (people...
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  • Save your kids! Student Loan Consolidation Fix
    Student loan consolidation is a major problem in our society today.  Several years ago one of our writers wrote a good article about teaching your kids how to manage their money and make a budget.  Please take a look at this great family oriented article about smart money management. http://homeedmag.com/home-education-magazine/stop-student-loan-consolidatio […]

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  • Intrinsic Motivations for Learning
    “As homeschoolers we need to find ways to reach out to teachers and parents who don’t want to see childrens’ 12 years of compulsory schooling reduced to skills training for big business. Nurturing the human capacity to learn through love and intrinsic motivation is as important to life — to me, more important — as ‘learning for earning.’ Art, religion, music […]

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  • Class Dismissed
    Class Dismissed is a new movie in production which is questioning whether schools, public or private, are really the best education option for many families, and it will be the first feature-length documentary to focus on homeschooling. From the website: “From home study and kitchen table math, to perpetual recess and park days, Class Dismissed follows the s […]

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  • Everyday Mysteries
    Who invented electric Christmas lights? The Library of Congress sponsors the fascinating Everyday Mysteries collection: Did you ever wonder why a camel has a hump? If you can really tell the weather by listening to the chirp of a cricket? Or why our joints make popping sounds? These questions deal with everyday phenomena that we often take for granted, but e […]

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  • Staying Informed
    The issues facing homeschoolers today are fundamentally the same as 30 years ago when HEM was first published. While communication is easier the underlying social question is, can parents be trusted with their kids? Our political positions will support this answer in the affirmative. But this is not always the case nor is it always easy to understand the bes […]