Dear John, We need to talk. I love you on HBO, I loved you on “The Daily Show,” I even loved you on “Community.” Is
Ms Korkes, as a teacher who works with "our most vulnerable kids" I am deeply confused by your assertion that a reliance on standardized testing benefits them. I see firsthand, on a daily basis, how education -- true, joyful, meaningful education -- is destroyed by policy that you support. So much rides on the high stakes testing in inner city schools that there is literally no time for anything else. Art, music, critical thought have been replaced by monotonous "drill and kill" methods. Students sleepwalk through the day as teachers struggle to make a curriculum meaningful. Students with severe disabilities struggle to pass a test that is absurdly inappropriate for them. They then emerge from this factory having passed high school, but completely ill-prepared for college and the real world. They are alienated from the system and the true gap is never closed. The charter schools who appear to be so successful are simply factories that have gamed the system. They spend countless hours and money on strategies to "pass the test". If your precious "achievement gap" is closed, it is only through elaborate smoke and mirrors.
I know this because I am a special education teacher in a high school in the South Bronx. I know this because I have the opportunity to teach one Intro to Philosophy elective that is some lucky students' one chance of the day to engage in useful critical thinking that isn't geared toward passing some over-emphasized achievement test. I see the students begin to realize what learning can be like. I see their love of education flower, at least for one 45 minute period a day. Then it's back to the grind. Pass Pearson's regents. Memorize memorize memorize. Rinse. Repeat.
I wonder: have you seen any of this firsthand? Have you seen how a true educational experience and a respect for multiple intelligences and various modes of learning have been virtually destroyed in inner city classrooms? Have you seen people like my colleagues who struggle in a sysiphisian manner to eek even the smallest amount of relevance and hope into our children's education? Have you seen the dedicated professions who truly LOVE opening new doors of perception in our students' lives?
Judging by your position, I doubt it.