tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post672952977977693317..comments2023-10-03T11:28:42.397-04:00Comments on Badass Teachers Association Blog: 5 MYTHS ABOUT STANDARDIZED TESTING AND THE OPT OUT MOVEMENTBadassTeacher Associationhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06249079678877556839noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3410387772840321888.post-61192646437463470652015-06-04T05:34:37.088-04:002015-06-04T05:34:37.088-04:00Bravo! I'm a recent grad ("A-grade" ...Bravo! I'm a recent grad ("A-grade" product) of the UK system, which is also test driven, and just want to let you know that people in the UK are looking to the US and the opt-out movement with interest. There is so much emotion around this and I completly get it, it's hard. When I satarted 'waking up' about 9 months ago and began discovering a deep-love of reading, a joy in creativity and a supressed desire to help the world, I sobbed... for all the time that's being robbed from young people by our "education" system. <br /><br />Nancy Bailey, a US Education Activits and Author asked me to guest post with her a few weeks ago and I came up with this: http://nancyebailey.com/2015/03/15/making-schools-the-best-in-the-world/ which prompted this great question from one of Nancy's readers: "I found this a very interesting take on the debate over the testing mania; but I would like to ask the writer from the UK, why hasn't her country's testing company, Pearson adopted her views on the testing measures they espouse?" <br /><br />Here is my take on Pearson: "On a surface level: I don't know why! I would love to speak with a representative from Pearson to discuss this and, if I can ever wrangle that opportunity, the resulting interview will be posted on my blog. I'm hugely curious about this perspective. On a deeper level: I took Pearson school exams and was given Pearson school text books, I was also given school exams administered by other providers. Unlike other providers Pearson is a for-profit company and this makes many people uncomfortable. <br /><br />I'm uncomfortable for a different reason: as far as I can see, Pearson (along with other providers) are servicing at a government and school level, not to students or teachers. So, if Pearson closed shop tomorrow, several other business would pop up to service the existing perceived need for these national scale tests. As we wake up and see that forced blanket student testing is at best irrelevant and at worse harmful, hopefully governments will reconsider the need for these contracts and, as a result, companies like Pearson will discover a need to adapt their business model."Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14774532581165354400noreply@blogger.com