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Patrick Mattimore
Adopting national standards will help No Child Left Behind
- Washington, D.C., legislators and presidential candidates are setting up No Child Left Behind to fail. Former North Carolina Democratic Sen. John Edwards is the latest candidate to suggest that we need multiple ways to “measure higher-order thinking skills, including open-ended essays, oral examinations and projects and experiments.”
May be time to lose SAT I for college admissions
- In 2001, the president of the University of California, Richard Atkinson, recommended that the UC system drop the SAT I as a requirement for admissions. That seemingly innocuous suggestion prompted widespread panic at the College Board, developers of the SAT I, the largest college admissions test.
Progress, accountability are needed from students
- Suppose you show up for a track meet at your local high school to watch your daughter perform. She’s in the high jump competition and she clears the bar, which is set at 6 feet. None of the other competitors can clear the height, but the competition’s organizers decide to allow individuals to submit testimonials from their coaches that they had cleared the height sometime during practice. Not the best method of judging performance, eh?
The story behind the rise in AP testing
- The U.S. Department of Education released a report last week documenting huge increases in the numbers of black and Hispanic students taking Advanced Placement exams in high school. In the nine-year period from 1997-2005, the number of Hispanic students taking the tests increased 213 percent and the number of black students taking the tests increased by 177 percent.
- The U.S. Department of Education released a report last week documenting huge increases in the numbers of black and Hispanic students taking Advanced Placement exams in high school. In the nine-year period from 1997-2005, the number of Hispanic students taking the tests increased 213 percent and the number of black students taking the tests increased by 177 percent.
Raising red flags about state education
- There’s been a lot of education news lately, and it’s not very good.
- There’s been a lot of education news lately, and it’s not very good.
Students give prizes for worst college rejection letters
- It’s the time of year when the nation’s elite colleges boast about how many more students they were able to reject this year than last year. One high school psychology class has come up with a way to goose the gander — class rejection therapy.
- It’s the time of year when the nation’s elite colleges boast about how many more students they were able to reject this year than last year. One high school psychology class has come up with a way to goose the gander — class rejection therapy.