Checking In On Standardized Testing
Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, talks about standardized testing and new efforts to raise high school graduation rates in the state.
View ArticleSCOTUS Cases; State of Cancer Treatment; SAT Prep; Frugal Flying
This week the Supreme Court docket includes challenges to the same-sex marriage cases of DOMA and Proposition 8. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman explains what the outcomes might mean for...
View ArticleABCs of SAT and ACT
John Katzman, educational entrepreneur and founder of The Princeton Review, answers questions about standardized college admission exams and offers advice on preparing for the tests. Katzman's new...
View ArticleA Last-Minute Deal on Teacher Evaluations
10:30 p.m. | Updated New York State education officials and the state teachers’ union reached an agreement on Thursday on a new evaluation system, just hours before a deadline set by Gov. Andrew M....
View ArticleA Lesson in Teaching to the Test, From E.B. White
In a recent quixotic attempt to broaden our kids’ horizons beyond Hogwarts during evening story hour, we turned to E.B. White, whose crystal-clear style, arrow-straight moral compass and trenchant...
View ArticleNo Need to Fear the Common Core Standards
The faculty here at Harry S. Truman High School is focusing on aligning tasks to the Common Core Standards. As I walk around observing classes, I can see and hear the engagement among students during...
View ArticleCommenters in a Silly Tizzy Over Testing Topic Ban
With all that there is to be outraged about when it comes to public education and the fate of American children, the Internet is having a silly fit about a clause in a request for proposals sent out by...
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Bravo for Common Core, but What About the Tests?
I am pretty sure I am supposed to be against the Common Core learning standards. I am not. While I share the concerns of many of my colleagues that the new standards are a Trojan horse for further...
View ArticleTesting, Tutoring and Worrying Occupy City School Parents
Testing, striving and tutoring are very much in the news on this warm April day, the first back from spring break for public school students and staff.SchoolBook's Anna M. Phillips has a report in The...
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Gearing Up for Test Day. And Then What?
Those who think that there is too much pressure to “teach to the test” find this time of year to be infuriating. Schools typically cease to focus on their regular curriculum and begin to prepare their...
View ArticleTesting Takes Its Toll on Special Needs Students
It has been a challenging week for many third- through eighth-grade public school students in New York City, as they have started their days on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the federally...
View ArticleSusan Barnes: 'Believe You're Worthy'
In Principal’s Office, a regular feature of SchoolBook, a city school principal is interviewed for insights into school management and the life of a school leader. What do you think makes a good...
View ArticlePrincipals Criticize Increased Costs of Test Scoring
Add this to the many complaints being made this year about the statewide standardized tests: City principals are grumbling that their teachers will have to spend more time away from classes this month...
View ArticleNew Diplomas Will Not Lower Standards, Regents Chancellor Says
The Brian Lehrer ShowMerryl Tisch, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, made the case on WNYC that a proposed career and technical high school diploma would not be easier to obtain than...
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State Officials Throw Out Another Pearson Test Question
For the fourth time within a month, state education officials have tossed out a question on the standardized tests after finding that errors by Pearson, the test maker, made the problem virtually...
View ArticleLong Island Principal 'Horrified' by Quality of State Exams
Days after a Brooklyn principal's letter to New York State's education commissioner gained wide publicity for its protest of the quality of this year's new state standardized exams, another principal...
View ArticleElizabeth Phillips: Teachers Need to Be Supported
In Principal’s Office, a regular feature of SchoolBook, a city school principal is interviewed for insights into school management and the life of a school leader. What do you think makes a good...
View ArticleScoring of State Math and Reading Tests Is Almost Complete
Teachers are logging their final hours of test grading this week, ending a process that some said took them out of classrooms at an inconvenient time and was less straightforward than many had hoped....
View ArticleTop Education Official Tells New York to Keep Up Reforms
Arne Duncan, the United States secretary of education, said that the country was lagging far behind its international competitors, and that he supported New York's efforts to implement a reform...
View ArticleFarewell to Michael Winerip
In his last "On Education'' column, Michael Winerip of The New York Times wrote on Monday about what happened when state officials in Florida changed the way they graded standardized state tests last...
View ArticleModest Rise in City Test Scores
6:41 p.m. | Updated For a second consecutive year, city students achieved slight gains on elementary and middle school statewide tests that were made more difficult two years ago after state officials...
View ArticleCity Schools Bracing for Big Reforms
The city's more than 1,700 public schools are gearing up for two major reforms when the new year starts on September 6. They're expanding the use of new learning standards known as the Common Core. At...
View ArticleShorter State Tests for Youngest Students
State education department officials said they've heard complaints from teachers and parents, and will reduce the duration of the 2013 math and reading tests for third and fourth graders.The 2012 exams...
View ArticleDOE Presses Ahead With School Openings
Teachers report to work Friday and students are back in the classroom on Monday. Despite dozens of "severely damaged" school buildings, power outages and transit issues, Schools Chancellor Dennis...
View ArticleWhy My Family is Boycotting the Tests
There is nothing quite like that feeling when something theoretical turns personal. My husband and I both work in education. He is a high school English teacher and I work for an education non-profit...
View ArticleUnion Calls on Next Mayor to Put Less Emphasis on Test Scores
With the teachers' union getting ready to endorse a mayoral candidate next week, United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew and the coalition New Yorkers for Great Public Schools said they...
View ArticleParents Press for Bigger Voice in School Decisions
In an unusual display of unity, parent leaders from across the city signed a six page letter to Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, calling for more involvement in decisions about their schools. The letter was...
View ArticlePressure Mounting to Halt Evaluations Tied to Common Core
Legislative leaders are calling for a two-year break before the state uses its new exams to evaluate teachers or principals. In a bi-partisan push, lawmakers said the Board of Regents and the State...
View ArticleSAT vs. GPA
Some critics of the SAT argue that GPA is a better predictor of a student's success in college than a standardized test. After last week's news about changes to the SAT (and as families get their high...
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Teachers Sound Off on State English Tests
Following the recent controversy around the state's English tests for grades 3-8, we invited four educators to WNYC's studios over spring break to hear why they're so critical of the tests. Three of...
View ArticleTest Prep Questions Raise Concerns On Eve of Math Tests
Standardized tests have become easy targets for complaints and ridicule, and not just from the students who have to take them. Comedian Louis C.K. got in on the act this week, venting on Twitter about...
View ArticleNYC Student Tackles the Last Test Standing Between Her and a High School...
When Radio Rookie Danielle Motindabeka came to the United States at age 13, she didn’t speak English. By the time she was in high school, Danielle had mastered the language well enough to pass six...
View ArticleThe Final Push to Graduation
Danielle Motindabeka didn't speak English when she came to the U.S. from the Congo at the age of 13.But by the time Motindabeka, now a 19-year-old reporter with WNYC's Radio Rookies program, was in...
View ArticleState Tests Show NYC Made Bigger Gains in Reading than Average
While students across New York State made gains on this year's math tests in grades 3 through 8, scores remained stagnant in the English Language Arts. The results in New York City were slightly...
View ArticleFive Things You Need to Know About NYC Scores on State Tests
1) New York City posted bigger gains in English than the state average: Statewide, just 31.4 percent of students were proficient in their English Language Arts tests, a measly one tenth of a percentage...
View ArticleHundreds of Teachers Rally Against Cuomo's Education Plans
Hundreds of teachers rallied at the State Capitol in Albany on Monday, saying they are calling out Gov. Andrew Cuomo for what they say is his anti public school agenda.The teachers, including New York...
View ArticleAmidst Standardized Testing, Parents Push Back Against Common Core
It's testing time at schools around the country, and in many places, students are taking a new set of standardized exams for the first time.Massachusetts is one of several states that have adopted the...
View ArticleEducators Go Silent on State Tests, More Than Last Year
As the first week of state tests for elementary and middle school students came to an end, many teachers and principals once again said they were divided about the tests' quality and value. But, unlike...
View ArticleWhen Research Projects Replace State Tests
The cafeteria at the Institute for Collaborative Education looked like a science fair on the day students took their equivalent of a Regents science test. Teens crowded around lunch tables displaying...
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In Rezoning Proposal, A 'Good' School Is in the Eye of the Beholder
For the first time since the school opened in 1965, P.S. 307 Daniel Hale Williams in Brooklyn could have a school zone that reaches beyond the children of Farragut Houses, the public housing complex...
View ArticleNew SAT, Same Old Anxiety
The College Board recently revised the SAT in hopes of making it more straightforward and aligned with high school curriculum. But student anxiety about the exam remains the same. The Takeaway visited...
View ArticleTesting Testing: Opting Out Is 'Trendy,' But Is It Fair?
Standardized testing begins this week for students in grades 3 through 8, who will be taking ELA (English Language Arts), starting on Tuesday. The math exams begin next week.And as testing season...
View ArticleTime's (Not) Up: Educators on the Pros and Cons of Untimed State Tests
At the East-West School of International Studies in Flushing, Queens, one student took full advantage of the state's decision to remove time limits on this year's tests. She took eight hours because,...
View ArticleChange Your Attitude, Ace Your Test?
Can changing the way you think about yourself lead to better grades in school?Researchers believe success does have something to do with your mindset. This is why M.S. 22 in the Bronx, which is on the...
View ArticleDe Blasio Claims Bragging Rights on Test Score Gains
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday touted the gains made by city students on the annual state math and English tests, claiming the improved scores proved his school improvement strategies...
View ArticleThe Roots of the Diversity Crisis at NYC's Elite High Schools
New York City officials are facing renewed criticism over the lack of diversity in specialized academic schools. Recent data shows that the number of black and Latino students enrolled for next year...
View ArticleReveal Presents: The View from Room 205
In 2014, WBEZ Chicago reporter Linda Lutton followed a class of fourth-graders at William Penn Elementary School on Chicago’s West Side. She wanted to explore a big idea that’s at the heart of the...
View ArticleThe SAT's New Adversity Score
Scott Jaschik, editor and co-founder of Inside Higher Ed., explains why the College Board plans to assign an adversity score to every student who takes the SAT. The score is meant to assess the...
View ArticleG: The Miseducation of Larry P
Are some ideas so dangerous we shouldn’t even talk about them? That question brought Radiolab’s senior editor, Pat Walters, to a subject that at first he thought was long gone: the measuring of human...
View ArticleThe Cost of School Choice
Dominique Martin was thrilled to get a state-funded voucher to send her daughter to private school. We go to Louisiana to investigate the cost of school choice. Don’t miss out on the next big story....
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