Does testing ruin schools?

The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools by Alfie Kohn voices the following opinions:

• High scores often signify relatively superficial thinking.
• Many of the leading tests were never intended to measure teaching or learning.
• A school that improves its test results may have lowered its standards to do so.
• Instead of helping to close the gap, the use of standardized testing is most damaging for low_income and minority students.
• As much as 90 percent of the variations in test scores among schools or states have nothing to do with the quality of instruction.
• Far more meaningful measures of student learning - or school quality - are available.

The author, who believes that standardized tests are based on politics rather than learning, also tells educators and parents how to turn their frustration into action and create classrooms that focus on learning.

The book costs $10. For more information call (603) 431-7840 or visit the Web site[www.heinemann.com].