http://iirc.niu.edu/

Here’s the scary part: Schools have been trying desperately to raise test-score bars for over ten years, facing substantial Federal and State penalties under No Child Left Behind for failing to raise the bars above. Yet many bars did not budge or climbed only in tiny spurts. In fact, despite threats as huge as the dissolution of a school district, some of bars have fallen. For the 2012 – 2013 school year, bars fell all across Illinois due to scoring changes, but random bars have been falling all over the state data at many schools on the website.

In a post last week, I asked: Where are the autopsies of our failed, mandated government-improvement programs? I’d like to emphasize again a few questions that demand answers:

The big question: Why did NCLB’s test-based reforms fail?

Why did all our efforts across the nation not produce the results desired and demanded?

What efforts, if any, succeeded?

Considering the formidable amounts of time and money many school districts have sunk into pulling up test scores, why do so many students remain unready for college or university classes?

Is current educational policy now causing or contributing to the lack of progress in America’s academically-challenged zip codes?

What if bars in some zip codes have risen because our students have learned what to expect on the test, while learning practically nothing else?

What if many bars are stagnant or falling because students were unready to learn the material on the test – but were offered nothing else?

 Eduhonesty: I keep hammering the test topic because children across America are being pounded down by tests. What are we receiving in return?

Are America’s  schools better now than when NCLB began? I don’t see evidence to support hoped-for improvements. Yes, our drop-out rate has fallen, but the number of college students requiring remedial education has risen steadily. Do students know more than they did a decade ago?

My major concern: I’m afraid they may know less — as a direct result of lost instructional opportunities resulting from over-testing.