Taking Back Our Classrooms in North Carolina

From the Advancement Project via Schools Matter.

Taking Back Our Classrooms: The United Struggle of Teachers, Students, and Parents in North Carolina Against High-Stakes Testing

March 5, 2012

North Carolina students, parents and teachers say the state’s use of high-stakes testing as its primary means of evaluating students and schools is ineffective, counterproductive, and denies young people the quality education they deserve, according to a new report.

Released today by Advancement Project, Advocates for Children’s Services and the North Carolina NAACP, Taking Back Our Classrooms: The United Struggle of Teachers, Students and Parents in North Carolina Against High-Stakes Testing shares the experiences of more than 100 teachers, students and parents across five counties – Wake, Durham, Buncombe, Mecklenburg, and Guilford – and the results of a statewide survey of 600 teachers. The report offers their collective recommendations for structuring an accountability system which reflects the realities of classrooms across the state.

Key recommendations include:

• Establishing classroom-based assessment and accountability for students, teachers and schools by offering multiple methods of evaluating students with different learning styles and incorporates peer reviews into teacher evaluations.
• Equipping students to be active and engaged participants in society by focusing on the development of “life skills” and encouraging them to challenge ideas.
• Focusing on early interventions for literacy as a basis for all learning.
• Providing meaningful professional development opportunities for teachers around classroom management.
• Establishing a system for evaluating implementation of reform efforts and identifying disparities in access to quality education.

Attached files
Taking Back our Classrooms Executive Summary (1.42MB PDF)
Taking Back our Classrooms Report (14.60MB PDF)
Taking Back our Classrooms Action Kit (1.57MB PDF)

xposted at Live Long and Prosper