Education Week Published Online: May 26, 2011

Panel Finds Few Learning Gains From Testing Movement

By Sarah D. Sparks

Premium article access courtesy of Edweek.org.

Nearly a decade of America's test-based accountability systems, from "adequate yearly progress" to high school exit exams, have shown little to no positive effect overall on learning and education and have not included enough safeguards against gaming the system, a blue-ribbon committee of the National Academies of Science concludes in a new report.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/05/26/33academy.h30.html?tkn=WMZFS%2FW96v61G219atrR%2F52%2BF7dt13KpDqLj&cmp=clp-edweek&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EducationWeekWidgetFeed+%28Education+Week%3A+Free+Widget+Feed%29&utm_content=Twitter

Are Finnish schools the best in the world?

They have no uniforms, no selection, no fee-paying and no league tables. Yet Finland's education system consistently tops global rankings.

Belfast (Ireland)Telegraph

Richard Garner finds out what we can learn from them
Thursday, 26 May 2011

There are 16 candidates for every vacancy and somehow the 2,000 applicants have to be whittled down to 120 by the time the course starts. We are not talking about law and medicine at Britain's most prestigious universities, though. This is Finland and the applicants are desperate for a job in what is the most sought-after profession in their country: teaching.

NBC News Education Nation

GUEST BLOG: Linda Darling-Hammond on Teacher Evaluations through Student Testing

Linda Darling-Hammond //May. 25, 2011 // 12:54 PM

http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=E730EFBA-86ED-11E0-B74E000C296BA163&id=8&dir=NEXT&aka=0

NYC Teachers Counter 'Waiting For Superman' With Film Of Their Own

Huffington Post: 05/24/11

What did "Waiting For 'Superman'" get wrong?

A grassroots group of parents and teachers pokes big holes in last year's blockbuster documentary about America's schools -- insisting that real reform will require more than brand-conscious initiatives such as increased testing standards and access to charter schools.

The result is a new documentary, wryly titled "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman."

"It says ... we're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it anymore," said Diane Ravitch, a New York University education historian and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, during a speech after a recent screening. "Teachers across this country are ... demoralized."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/24/inconvenient-truth-behind-waiting-for-superman_n_865962.html

The film site is:

http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org/

And the Grassroots NYC site is:

http://gemnyc.org/