It's Time to Change the Stakes

We all know high-stakes testing has gotten out of control, and the effects have been devastating. In the age of globalization and national discussions of "competitiveness" we must be challenging the idea that schooling should be constant test preparation. Our former Chancellor, Joel Klein, once said that there's nothing wrong with test prep: “If that’s what test prep is about, teaching people to read and understand paragraphs, that’s what I think education is about.” But we know that when schools become test prep factories, especially for low-income students, we as a society have failed in our promise of a quality education for all. And as long as the stakes on these tests remain high, the disastrous consequences will continue.

Join us for an evening with Dr. Yong Zhao...

Yong Zhao is one of the most eloquent critics of the high cost of high-stakes testing and an expert on the Chinese educational system. He argues persuasively that the greatest strength of the United States education system has been the cultivation of creativity: “To be creative is to be different. Creative people often have ideas, behaviors, beliefs, and lifestyles that deviate from the norm, and from tradition.  How these people and their ideas are treated by others has a defining effect on creativity and indeed on different social groups.” He argues that our current focus on tests moves us in a different direction that is already spelling disastrous consequences for students' well-being as well as for our society as a whole.

Zhao is the Presidential Chair and Associate Dean for Global Education at the University of Oregon, where he also serves as the director of the Center for Advanced Technology in Education (CATE).  For more information visit:  http://zhaolearning.com
October 12, 2011

Location:  I.S. 89
 201 Warren Street  
New York, NY  10282

Time:  6:30-8:30 PM

Sponsored by:  Class Size Matters, Grassroots Education Movement, I.S. 89 PTA, Parents Across America,  Time-Out From Testing