Joanne Jacobs

When administrators say they´ve expanded lessons on testable subjects — usually reading, writing and math — and cut other things, what´s lost and gained? Karin Chenoweth writes at Britannica Blog on the Center for Education Policy report:

The (CEP) report found that schools in about 80 percent of districts, schools are spending more time preparing students to take the state tests than they did before NCLB. Certainly this sounds bad on the face of it — one imagines lots of kids bubbling in answer sheets, day after day. Here’s what the report said: “Many case study interviewees reported that, although test preparation activities are not considered part of the formal district curriculum, schools are paying more attention to the kinds of questions included on the state-mandated tests.”

Again — that sounds pretty bad and has been used by many who argue that the testing regimen imposed by NCLB has caused schools to distort the education they offer. But read just a little further: “For example, district and school officials from the Bayonne City district said they are paying far more attention to open-ended questions and are using scoring rubrics to evaluate children’s writing.”

Wait just a minute. The schools of Bayonne are asking kids to write answers to questions and they are evaluating the kids’ writing?

I don’t want to get carried away, but that sounds like … actual instruction.

Chenoweth suspects school administrators find NCLB to be a handy scapegoat for unpopular decisions.