You are, of course, correct. The last part of my message was meant to be
ironic and does, I admit, betray a certain amount of cynicism on the topic
of popular standardized assessments. I have spent countless hours trying to
explain to parents the lack of correlation that you mention. I believe
passionately that preparing our students for life and for becoming lifelong
learners is the most important thing we do. I am frustrated with my own
inability to persuade people that we should pay less attention to scores on
the SAT and the like, and more attention to how students might perform on
alternative assessments that better measure the things we believe are
important. I was trying to make the point that a more systemic change across
the educational community is necessary. I apologize for being fuzzy and can
only hope this is a tad less fuzzy.
Best,
Steve Edele
Head Elect
The Harbor School
Vashon, WA
-----Original Message-----
Whoa there Nelly! I have to challenge "Let's face it -- being able to
complete a project
that demonstrates mastery of these skill is all very nice (my underline,
bold and
italized), but not nearly as important as scoring well on the CTP, SAT, AP,
etc." Why not
direct your students to schools (are there are top tier schools that do)
that look for
students who can demonstrate those skills whether in formal and informal
assessments. Are
you suggesting that Missions Statements, i.e. the parts that speak to
lifelong learners
and preparing students for life are sham? Are you suggesting that it is not
our job to
help parents understand the lack of correlation of SATs and the like to
college
performance much less life performance? This sounds far too cynical to me.
David F. Withrow
Director of Technology
Harford Day School
Bel Air, Maryland 21014
voice: 410 879 2350 ex 33
fax: 410 836 5918
http://www.harfordday.org
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