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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 2012)
^îortlanb (Obstruer May 9, 2012 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views o f the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. Page 9 New Prices Effective May 1,2010 Martin Cleaning Service Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Residential & Commercial Services Minimum Service CHG $45.00 A small distance/travel charge may be applied CARPET CLEANING 2 Cleaning Areas or more $30.00 Each Area Pre-Spray Traffic Areas (Includes: I sm all H allway) 1 Cleaning Area (only) $40.00 Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area (Hallway Extra) Stairs (12-16 stairs - With O ther Services): $25.00 Too Much Testing and Punishing When the love of learning takes a back seat by J an R esseger This spring, 400 school boards in Texas, a third of the school principals in New York, and a large national group of educa tion, civil rights, parents’ and religious organiza tions have organized petitions to oppose the torrent of standardized testing our federal government has flooded into public schools. I am encouraged by this protest. It’s about time! Although standardized tests ex pose achievement gaps, they can not close them. Instead, low scor ing students need pre-school, en riched classes, and enough teach ers and counselors to be able to connect personally with all stu dents. Standardized testing every year for all children in third through eighth grades and once in high school was folded into the federal education law in 2002 in a version called No Child Left Behind. Recent federal policy has only added new uses for testing. Race to the Top and new waivers from some of the worst conse quences of No Child Left Behind are being granted by the U.S. Department of Edu cation, but only for states that promise to tie teacher evaluation and pay to students’ sta n d a rd iz e d test scores. Such programs too often impose pun ishments like firing prin dren hunker down on tested sub jects of basic reading and math at the expense o f art, music, literature, and even social studies. H igh-stakes graduation tests only increase the dropout rate as those likely to fail are counseled into alternative programs or held back indefinitely in ninth grade to prevent their pulling down the school’s average by taking the tenth-grade test. Now cheating scandals in Atlanta and Washing ton, D.C. confirm that administra- We may succeed in raising test scores by relying on these methods, but we will fail to teach them that reading can be transformative and that it belongs to them. —Claire Needed H o lla n d e r . New York middle school teacher cipals and teachers and closing or tors, desperate to protect their own privatizing the low est scoring jobs, have required teachers to schools, often the schools in the change students’ answers. poorest neighborhoods of big cit Millions of dollars flow to private ies— all based on standardized test corporations for test development scores. and grading, and the Department of Children are spending too much Education is spending millions on time drilling basic skills and practic research to evaluate teachers by their ing test-taking. Low-scoring chil students’ scores. Although such value added metrics have proven unreliable, newspapers in New York and Los Angeles printed the scores for thousands of teachers. Standardized tests cannot mea sure imagination, critical thinking, respect for others, compassion and a sense of justice. Metrics cannot tell us whether teachers help chil dren love learning. In a recent New York Times com mentary Claire Needell Hollander, an English teacher in a New York middle school, regrets that recently she has been forced to cut discus sions of literary classics for stu dents whose test scores lag and substitute short non-fiction pas sages like those that appear in the standardized test. “We cannot enrich the minds of our students by testing them on texts that purposely ignore their hearts,” she writes. “By doing so, we are withholding from our needi est students any reason to read at all... We may succeed in raising test scores by relying on these meth ods, but we will fail to teach them that reading can be transformative and that it belongs to them.” Jan Resseger is a minister fo r Public Education and Witness M in istries in the United Church o f Christ. Area/Oriental Rugs: $25.00Minimum Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool): $40.00Minimum Heavily Soiled Area: Additional $10.00 each area (Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying) UPHOLSTERY CLEANING Sofa: $69.00 Loveseat: $49.00 Sectional: $ 109 - $ 139 Chair or Recliner: $25 - $49 Throw Pillows (With Other Services): $5.00 < ADDITIONAL SERVICES • Area & Oriental Rug Cleaning • Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning • Deodorizing & Pet - x Odor Treatment Wv • Spot & Stain Removal Service • Scotchguard Protection • Minor Water Damage Services SEE CURRENT FLYER FOR ADDITIONAL PRICES & SERVICES Call for Appointment (503) 281-3949 T rrrrrrr
