Great Greg Scarf Column in North County Times

Today the North County Times printed a well reasoned, well written column critical of school testing. It was written by Temecula resident Greg Scarf and entitled: "SCHARF: Testing real test results?"

I encourage all of you to read it at:

http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/scharf/article_a802090a-dddb-5955-8628-5a48c63f99ea.html?mode=story

Here are the first view paragraphs of the column:

Once again, the kids in the Temecula Valley Unified School District have scored higher on the California Department of Education' Academic Performance Index; which I'm sure makes the school administrators, (some) teachers, students and parents very proud.

There are many, however, who regard this is a hollow achievement ---- including a high school teacher who describes it as the "Affluence Performance Index," as the test has been criticized as being biased to white middle- to upper-class students, which would make the success in testing make sense here in Lake Woebegone "'where all of our children are above average." One critic says that a high test score is more indicative of the square footage of houses surrounding the school.

Test taking is a valuable skill, to be sure, as for most professions testing is part of the licensing requirements, to say nothing of getting accepted to universities and graduate schools.

But students are tested regularly anyway, and standardized tests have statistically significant margins for error, and may even reflect test anxiety, a personal trauma that morning, or even whether a kid had breakfast. And, like many, I wonder how much learning time is compromised by "teaching to the test."

There is a not-so-subtle pressure on the teacher for his/her students to score high ---- "teacher accountability" is part of the deal. That's something no one is going to question as the idea of trying to reward exemplary teachers, help the burned out ones, and dismiss the incompetent ones is an important goal.

But test scores are a very limited yardstick. Personal and professional development, early intervention, peer review and recognition, and reward of outstanding teachers that serve as mentors makes better sense.