The Tsunami of Standards & Testing

Why School "Reforms" Have Failed for 40 Years

Education has been under siege from the standardized testing movement.?This is not the first debate or movement of its kind.?David B. Tyack, in his book?The One Best System - a History of American Urban Education , 1974,?offers an interesting and thorough discussion of a very similar struggle that occurred in American schools around the turn of the 20th century.?

This current siege has been underway for 40 years, and has grown with enormous intensity under the NCLB (now the ESSA) in the United States and reached its peak with the introduction of the Common Core State Standards, reaching global proportions.?The past forty years have seen the birth and growth of what I refer to as "standardized testing mania".?Like a pandemic, it has spread across the globe wreaking havoc on schools and upon the lives of the students.

Educators are all too aware of this fact, so this is not news to you.?What may be news to you, though, is that there are signs that the tide may actually be turning!?Maybe the Learning Revolution that?Sir Ken Robinson ?is calling for has finally begun!

If you read my article on?Obstacles to Overcome in Creating 21st Century Schools , you would have seen the "starter list" of obstacles, including,

???1.)?The Daily Bell Schedule

???2.)?Mandated Curriculum Pacing Guides, i.e, Marching Orders

???3.)?Lack of Planning Time

???4.)?Lack of Support in terms of Professional Development

???5.)?Standardized Testing

???6.)?Organizational Structures of the Schools - the "cells and bells" paradigm and practices

???7.)?Excessive Administrative Duties

???8.)?Fear of Failure

???9.)?Outdated Teacher Evaluation Practices

??10.)?The Enduring Factory Model of Education

??11.)?Lack of Meaningful Integration of Technologies, aka "App Fever"

??12.)?Micro-Analysis of Everything!

At the end of that article, you will find?Creating An Oasis in the Desert !?Possibilities exist to create experiences that many educators know are right for our children.?

Please also read these two other, excellent articles which demonstrate the "turning of the tide".??See Thom Markham's post?Navigating Chaos: the New 21st Century Skill , and Bob Sornson's post,?Hasn't Worked, Can't Work, Won't Work. ??Both articles provide strong arguments and research-based evidence that we must walk away from the obsolete practices and paradigms plaguing education today, and embrace an entirely new paradigm and new practices.

The evidence is clear that what we are doing in schools is not what is good for children or learning. Thankfully, a grassroots revolution is growing. But it needs to expand. We need a national, and global, paradigm shift. This effort must bring together all education stakeholders - educators, parents, students, community organizations, businesses, and legislators. Therefore, we have created a new program called Paradigm Shift Edu . We hope you will check it out and join us! Join here.

One more thing: Dr. Ted Dintersmith's new book is out now. Grab a copy, or a stack of them for your faculty - What Schools Could Be - Insights and Inspiration from Schools Across America

In fact, if you agree, please help us get the word out to all stakeholders in your network :-)

Anne Shaw, Founder and Director of 21st Century Schools and Paradigm Shift Edu

(this link is having some problems from within this article. Try going to a new tab and typing www.ParadigmShiftEdu.weebly.com ) We are in this process of moving it to www.ParadigmShiftEdu.org .

Thank you!

Contact Anne at [email protected]