The best-kept secret of all are the high stakes which drive these tests. Gwinnett County, which enrolls 110,300 students in its public schools, is the showcase of Governor Roy Barnes' plan for raising school standards. It is the first district in Georgia to institute high-stakes tests. Even so, the Georgia media has shown no interest in commenting on the loony test questions used to decide whether kids pass or fail a grade. Anyone who thinks Gwinnett County is unique must have been taking a long snooze.
Silence is our enemy.
Send me your goofy test items. Maybe the police haven't appeared on the doorsteps of many people yet, but nationwide, teachers who talk about the tests take great risks. Teresa Glenn was suspended for five days for paraphrasing one oddball test item on a listserv set up by the state as a place for teachers to discuss educational concerns. Independent experts have declared these tests unprofessional, simplistic, and error-ridden, but Schmidt, not the testmakers, is on the firing line. This does not mean we should shut up.