Oh They’re Gonna Be Miffed Now!
February 29, 2008The homeschoolers that is. It seems the President’s moronic ‘no child left behind’ policy of failure and shortsightedness is going to be foisted on them too. Katie notes
Homeschoolers are way unhappy at the idea that the state might start requiring their kids to take the same state-administered standardized tests schooled kids must take:
Several lawmakers reported getting thousands of calls and e-mails about the issue. J. Claiborne Thornton III, president of the Tennessee Home Education Association, said requiring tests would limit parents’ flexibility to teach what they wanted.
“Part of the reason people enjoy being in a free society is that that they can believe what they want to believe - within bounds - and they can teach that to their children,” he said.
All students in the state, whether they’re in private, public or home schools, are required to follow state-recognized methods that include testing and assessments, according to Bruce Opie, director of legislation and policy for the Tennessee Department of Education, but students educated at home or in private schools are not required to take state-mandated standardized tests.
Why not? What’s good for the goose’s kids is good for the gander’s too.
That sort of thing already happens in Ohio. Usually the home-schooled kids outscore the publically schooled kids.
John,
Is there actual data to support that? I would be interested to see how it is disaggregated to see which groups outperform others.
Homeschooled kids must meet standard or there is no way for colleges to adjudicate their prospective success or failure. Unless of course you want them to go to Patrick Henry College. There homeschooling is a badge of honour - especially if it is for sectarian reasons.
However, we do not need standardized tests to get measures. We need good accreditation and measures of learning outcomes at schools that are standardized and far more sophisticated instruments and standard rubrics that individual school districts can develop to fit the needs of their constituencies. These can then be tied to standard variables on larger levels that accreditation boards can monitor in order to help colleges determine best fits for admissions counselors. All good educators know this stuff, but NCLB is this behemoth that is preventing good assessment practices.
And remember that this was the brain child of the Clinton admin. and Bush was too stupid to veto it. But remember that Bush instituted rigorous unstandardized testing all the way down to Kindergarten wasi’t it? in Texas.
My son is enrolled in a public charter school whose curriculum is delivered at home via text and internet. Since he’s “really” a public school student, he must take the state-mandated tests. But standardized tests are really not very good measures of student achievement.
Chris you’ll probably be surprised by my saying this- but the whole ‘universalized’ test concept seems to be really stupid. It’s meaningless really. Sound and fury signifying nothing.
Having reviewed many apps myself and just this week sent out letters to close to 2500 HS seniors telling them whether they were admitted to our college or not (we admit only 300) I can tell you that many, many homeschool students do exceptionally well, have been admitted to our highly selective program, and have done very well. I think the results are the same as with ANY school. Some do very well, others do not.
I can also tell you that SATs are practically meaningless and we do not consider them in the admissions process. I realize they are not the same standardized tests debated here, but they are standardized nonetheless.
As a parent of a child with a learning disability, I have a real problem with the standardized testing. The “no child left behind” initiative does not apply to those who need the most assistance. Our experience has been that learning disabled children are expected to perform to the same standard as children who are not learning disabled. No child left behind? Really!?! Shouldn’t those who need help the most receive the most help? Or do the learning disabled not count as children?