Victims of Standardized Testing:
The Adolescent Student Disengagement

10/30/2012

In this era of overemphasis on standardized testing, our teachers are under enormous pressure. Their students simply must perform at certain levels on standardized tests. There is no longer time, in busy academic schedules, to engage in activities that generate deep thinking and reinforce application of skills. Teachers have to abandon inquiry projects and, instead, are forced to devote time teaching to the mediocre levels of expectations found on standardized tests. What I witness, in classrooms all over the country, are students who are subjected to hours of standardized curriculum and standardized test prep – that never ending, constant test prep! I truly believe that this is the core of teenage disengagement with school.

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The Alternative to Standardized Testing:
Performance Assessment

10/26/2012

When I began my teaching career 25 years ago, as a fresh-faced college graduate, I was trained to view performance assessment as the best means to determine the skill level and achievement of my students. More traditional assessments, like multiple choice quizzes and tests, were discouraged because these did not meet diverse needs of all students and were less effective measures. Today, performance assessment is still identified as the most effective tool for determining student achievement because it manifests what all assessment should be: reliable, varied, and fair.

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Handouts: SDE 2012 Illinois Power Up!
Connecting Technology to Today’s Learners

10/17/2012

Katie McKnight will be presenting at the SDE 2012 Power Up! Connecting Technology to Today's Learners Conference, which runs October 18-19, 2012 in Rolling Meadows, IL.

Please click here for more information on the conference and additional handouts from the presentations.

Beautiful Differences: Victims of Standardized Testing
Hope Institute Learning Academy, Chicago, IL

10/16/2012

Hope Institute Learning Academy, a contract school that serves the Chicago Public Schools, opened in September 2009. It was intended to be a model for inclusive education. My son Colin, who has several disabilities, is enrolled as a student at Hope Institute. He wasn’t very happy at his previous school, one that was ill equipped to respond to the beautiful differences among its student population. But Hope Institute was a different story. After only a short period of time as a Hope student, my son actually began to feel happy and enthusiastic about going to school. And despite his earlier challenges, today, homework is one of Colin’s preferred activities.

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Victims of Standardized Testing: Achievement Academy, Albany, NY

10/9/2012

I need to tell you about Achievement Academy in Albany, New York.

I visit many middle schools and high schools across the country in my capacity as literacy consultant for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Trust me when I say that it’s rare to find an example of a school in which students who have been marginalized in public schools and perform significantly below grade level upon enrollment, grow significantly in their academic achievement and self- esteem. Achievement Academy, an exemplary charter school that both accepts and keeps all students, is one such school. The teachers at Achievement Academy speak of their students with love and passion, and they never waver in their rigorous academic expectations. When I visit them, I witness countless examples of engaged and meaningful instruction.

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Confusion Regarding the Role of Informational Text in English Language Arts Curriculum

10/3/2012

I appreciate that the Common Core State Standards and the dramatic shift in education that this initiative will generate were addressed in this article. I just completed a book for teachers which explains the impact of CCSS on 9-12 th grade English language arts classrooms.

There are some omissions from this article that I think warrant attention:

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