Third Way says NCLB testing must go on. Call us "anti-testing-and-accountability Democrats"

Crossposted in General Discussion for more visibility. Rec if you can.

That Jon Cowan....he just has to use labels. He also uses the term "test-phobia", a little trite.

It is not surprising this think tank has entered the fray to lecture those of us who want an end such overtesting and practice testing which keeps teachers from teaching and students from learning. It's their job to stand up for corporate needs, and their greatest need right now is to take over public schools.

No Child Left Behind test requirements deserve support from both parties

He doesn't seem to even be aware that the testing IS the policy of Obama and his education secretary Arne Duncan. The picture he is painting is misleading by its omission of the other side of the story.

It's interesting that Republicans are working to control the amount of testing and Democratic strategists are calling for the "status quo".

The stance of anti-testing-and-accountability Democrats is even more puzzling. After decades of stagnant school test scores and yawning achievement gaps, No Child Left Behind spurred tremendous academic gains, especially among low-income and minority kids. Just a few of the many examples: According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the largest ongoing nationwide assessment, 57 percent of low-income students were “below basic” level in fourth-grade math the year before No Child Left Behind was enacted. Today that rate is 27 percent. For African-American students, the rate went to 34 percent from 65 percent. For Latinos, it went to 27 percent from 59 percent. Today, the average 9-year-old African-American student scores at the math level an African-American 13-year-old did in 1973. The same is true for Latino students. Students with disabilities are making educational progress as well — and for the first time, those gains are being tracked systematically.

How can Democrats, who built two winning presidential coalitions by arguing they are the only ones who will stand up for African Americans and Latinos, be willing to throw out the policies that incited such progress?

Of course there are things not to like about No Child Left Behind, and pieces of it could use tweaks and improvement. And some thoughtful lawmakers are already suggesting ways to directly address those concerns, like asking states and districts to review the tests their students are taking and toss out those that are duplicative or low quality. But after watching American students fall behind our global competitors, we now see an upward trajectory. The average 9-year-old American student’s scores are going up in reading seven times faster than they ever did in the 30 years before No Child Left Behind. In math, the scores are going up five times faster.

Yet, the gravitational pull of anti-testing-and-accountability forces is so strong that it’s causing many in Congress to become “repeal-and-replacers,” even if that means jettisoning deep values cherished by their own party. This is the legislative equivalent of repealing the entire Affordable Care Act because of opposition to its medical-device tax.

We cannot let test phobia undercut the significant progress the United States has made toward giving all children an education that prepares them to succeed.