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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The fear of Provincial Achievement Testing

I know principals in Alberta who are scared to inform their school's parents that it is the choice of the parent to allow or not allow their child to take grade 3, 6 and 9 Provincial Achievement Tests.

I know of teachers who do not support Provincial Achievement Testing but are scared to death to voice their opinion.

I know teachers in Alberta who voluntarily decide to use the Provincial Achievement Tests as a part of the students' report card.

I know of whole schools in Alberta who mandate their teachers use the Provincial Achievement Tests as a part of the student's report card.

I find it disturbing how much fear and manipulation is created inside of students, parents and teachers because of these Provincial Achievement Tests.

1 comment:

  1. Scott KempOctober 26, 2010 at 10:35 AM

    I don't think the fear and manipulation is limited to the PAT, I think schools have been using these tactics for years. Schools and teachers constantly create an illusion where students don't have choice, don't have authenticity and are afraid to resist.

    I'm glad there is starting to be a group of voices that are challenging that norm. The notion that we require complete subordination from our students to achieve learning is extremely troublesome.

    Keep up the fight.

    Cheers,
    Scott Kemp

    http://mrkemp.tumblr.com

    ReplyDelete