Clio's Lament
There is a terrible irony that hangs over
the educational crusade for standards-based reform. In the push for
accountability through high-stakes tests, many policymakers are
inadvertently undermining high-quality teaching and learning. When
teachers convey a passion for their craft, and students experience a
deep engagement with learning, schools are doing something right. When
these experiences are diminished because they get in the way of
preparing for externally imposed tests, then we know something is very
wrong.
The case of how history is taught highlights our current malaise. The discipline is being driven into a grim mediocrity in the name of reform and accountability. The new "reforms" mandated by state tests across the nation are draining the passion and rigor from a subject matter that should be encouraging our students to critically examine their connection with the past. In this age of accountability, one wonders where Clio, the ancient muse of history, would find inspiration.
To better understand what constitutes inspired history teaching and learning, it is helpful first to describe the problem. Educators from across the country echo similar complaints about their new state standardized history tests. A chairperson of a social studies department in a high school outside Boston complains that the design of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, "including the open-ended questions, [does] not assess students' thinking, but only their retention of disconnected information." In a Northern Virginia suburb, a superintendent fears that the state's Standards of Learning exam in history will "narrow our focus and narrow our curriculum." A history teacher in Portland, Ore., believes that to adequately prepare students for that state's "certificate of initial mastery," classrooms are turning into "vast wading pools of information for students to...
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