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De-Testing and De-Grading Schools: Authentic Alternatives to Accountability and Standardization
(From the back cover)
"A century of education and education reform along with the last three decades of high-stakes testing and accountability reveals a disturbing paradox: Education has a steadfast commitment to testing and grading despite decades of research, theory and philosophy that reveal the corrosive consequences of both testing and grading within an education system designed to support human agency and democratic principles.
"This edited volume brings together a collection of essays that confront the failure of testing and grading and then offers practical and detailed examinations of implementing, at the macro and micro levels of education, teaching and learning free of the weight of testing and grading. The book explores the historical failure of testing and grading; the theoretical and philosophical arguments against testing and grading; the negative influence of testing and grading on social justice, race, class, and gender; and the role of testing and grading in perpetuating a deficit perspective of children, learning, race, and class.
"The chapters fall under two broad sections: Part I: "Degrading Learning, Detesting Education: The Failure of High-Stakes Accountability in Education" includes essays on the historical, theoretical, and philosophical arguments against testing and grading; Part II: "De-Grading and De-Testing in a Time of High-Stakes Education Reform" presents practical experiments in de-testing and de-grading classrooms for authentic learning experiences."
"A century of education and education reform along with the last three decades of high-stakes testing and accountability reveals a disturbing paradox: Education has a steadfast commitment to testing and grading despite decades of research, theory and philosophy that reveal the corrosive consequences of both testing and grading within an education system designed to support human agency and democratic principles.
"This edited volume brings together a collection of essays that confront the failure of testing and grading and then offers practical and detailed examinations of implementing, at the macro and micro levels of education, teaching and learning free of the weight of testing and grading. The book explores the historical failure of testing and grading; the theoretical and philosophical arguments against testing and grading; the negative influence of testing and grading on social justice, race, class, and gender; and the role of testing and grading in perpetuating a deficit perspective of children, learning, race, and class.
"The chapters fall under two broad sections: Part I: "Degrading Learning, Detesting Education: The Failure of High-Stakes Accountability in Education" includes essays on the historical, theoretical, and philosophical arguments against testing and grading; Part II: "De-Grading and De-Testing in a Time of High-Stakes Education Reform" presents practical experiments in de-testing and de-grading classrooms for authentic learning experiences."
- GenresEducation
294 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 30, 2014
De-Testing and De-Grading Schools is a collection of essays by various educators on the issue of high-stakes testing and grades in the classroom. The first half of the book focuses on high-stakes testing and the problems it creates, and the second half focuses on the impact of grades in the classroom and alternatives to grades.
I enjoyed the majority of essays in this book. As a future teacher myself, I find the idea of using an alternative to grades in the classroom very appealing. If I can create a classroom where students want to learn for intrinsic reasons, not extrinsic reasons, where students are taught 'how' to learn and not just 'what' to learn, I will be very happy. The intrinsic vs. extrinsic reason for learning is a heavy focus of the essays regarding de-grading. I have experienced myself and can often perceive how the school system can push the intrinsic motive for learning and replace it with the extrinsic motive of grades, competition among peers, and recognition. In today's schools, learning is not done to improve oneself but to achieve something outside of the classroom. Learning is not done for learning's sake. There of course needs to be an application for the learning we do, otherwise there would be no purpose of learning. However, when learning is not done in any degree for learning's sake, school becomes a task and imagination is stifled as a student focuses only on the outcomes of their schooling and how to quickly and most efficiently achieve those outcomes. Time is not devoted to ancillary activities which may deepen learning but not necessarily achieve measurable results. However, what it does achieve is a love/desire for learning when you realize that their are so many things in this world to learn and investigate. Time is not devoted to these activities because time in the classroom is a precious commodity and today's teachers are under constant pressure to adhere to national standards and reach pre-set checkpoints in order that they can cover all of the material that will be on the standardized test. Therefore, teachers often have to forfeit investigative activities and off the beaten path teaching moments in interest of covering more material quickly so their students score high on the standardized test so the teacher can keep his job.
Standardized tests have the advantage of maintaining equilibrium across the country and ensuring a teacher is actually teaching the material. However, such a large emphasis has been placed on the results of these tests in recent years that they have outgrown their usefulness. They have become a tool that limits the classroom. The tests dictate what occurs in the classroom with teachers often resorting to 'teaching to the test'. Standardized tests should be a guiding benchmark for teachers to follow, not a rigorous, step-by-step instructor that affects their daily practice. The tendency of standardized tests to convert students and their learning into simple statistical numbers is another factor in the decline of imagination and discovery in the classroom. Instead of focusing on the path of learning and what occurs on the path, all of the focus is on a numerical result of the end of that path, not even on the work accomplished by the student at the end of the path (as a portfolio would). Rather, all learning culminates in just a number.
Now, it may be odd that I put all of my thoughts on this topic in my review, but these were all thoughts brought about by this book so I thought it fair to show what rabbit trails this book led my mind on. A few of the high-stakes testing essays were biased in their viewpoint and you could tell the author was heavily focusing on one side of argument and not giving ample space to the other side. However, the majority of the essays were well-written and presented intriguing insights into some non-traditional viewpoints.
My top essay in the high-stakes testing section was "The Role of Assessment in Empowering/Disempowering Students in the Critical Pedagogy Classroom" by David Bolton and John Elmore. My top essay in the de-grading and de-testing the classroom section was "Reduced to Numbers" by Joe Bower. "The Case Against Grades" by Alfie Kohn was also very good and worth noting since Alfie Kohn is often recognized as the leading source on de-grading the classroom and has written much on this topic.
I enjoyed the majority of essays in this book. As a future teacher myself, I find the idea of using an alternative to grades in the classroom very appealing. If I can create a classroom where students want to learn for intrinsic reasons, not extrinsic reasons, where students are taught 'how' to learn and not just 'what' to learn, I will be very happy. The intrinsic vs. extrinsic reason for learning is a heavy focus of the essays regarding de-grading. I have experienced myself and can often perceive how the school system can push the intrinsic motive for learning and replace it with the extrinsic motive of grades, competition among peers, and recognition. In today's schools, learning is not done to improve oneself but to achieve something outside of the classroom. Learning is not done for learning's sake. There of course needs to be an application for the learning we do, otherwise there would be no purpose of learning. However, when learning is not done in any degree for learning's sake, school becomes a task and imagination is stifled as a student focuses only on the outcomes of their schooling and how to quickly and most efficiently achieve those outcomes. Time is not devoted to ancillary activities which may deepen learning but not necessarily achieve measurable results. However, what it does achieve is a love/desire for learning when you realize that their are so many things in this world to learn and investigate. Time is not devoted to these activities because time in the classroom is a precious commodity and today's teachers are under constant pressure to adhere to national standards and reach pre-set checkpoints in order that they can cover all of the material that will be on the standardized test. Therefore, teachers often have to forfeit investigative activities and off the beaten path teaching moments in interest of covering more material quickly so their students score high on the standardized test so the teacher can keep his job.
Standardized tests have the advantage of maintaining equilibrium across the country and ensuring a teacher is actually teaching the material. However, such a large emphasis has been placed on the results of these tests in recent years that they have outgrown their usefulness. They have become a tool that limits the classroom. The tests dictate what occurs in the classroom with teachers often resorting to 'teaching to the test'. Standardized tests should be a guiding benchmark for teachers to follow, not a rigorous, step-by-step instructor that affects their daily practice. The tendency of standardized tests to convert students and their learning into simple statistical numbers is another factor in the decline of imagination and discovery in the classroom. Instead of focusing on the path of learning and what occurs on the path, all of the focus is on a numerical result of the end of that path, not even on the work accomplished by the student at the end of the path (as a portfolio would). Rather, all learning culminates in just a number.
Now, it may be odd that I put all of my thoughts on this topic in my review, but these were all thoughts brought about by this book so I thought it fair to show what rabbit trails this book led my mind on. A few of the high-stakes testing essays were biased in their viewpoint and you could tell the author was heavily focusing on one side of argument and not giving ample space to the other side. However, the majority of the essays were well-written and presented intriguing insights into some non-traditional viewpoints.
My top essay in the high-stakes testing section was "The Role of Assessment in Empowering/Disempowering Students in the Critical Pedagogy Classroom" by David Bolton and John Elmore. My top essay in the de-grading and de-testing the classroom section was "Reduced to Numbers" by Joe Bower. "The Case Against Grades" by Alfie Kohn was also very good and worth noting since Alfie Kohn is often recognized as the leading source on de-grading the classroom and has written much on this topic.
July 13, 2017
With a collection of articles submitted by various authors and researchers, Detesting and Degrading Schools ranges from pedantic and scholarly to inspirational. Although one of the lead editors is from Alberta, Canada, much of this book has to do with the shortcomings of No Child Left Behind, making it less applicable to the Canadian educator. Still, many contributors present a refreshing look at the future of education and how teachers can take the focus away from grades and put it back on the learning.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews