THE DEADLY EFFECTS OF “TOUGHER STANDARDS”: Challenging High-Stakes Testing and Other Impediments to Learning The main effect “of the drive for so-called higher standards in schools is that the children are too busy to think,” said John Holt in 1959. Today, an ill-informed version of school reform has been embraced by politicians, corporate executives, and journalists, all demanding “accountability,” which … Read More
Change by Decree (##)
AMERICAN SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL January 2013 Change by Decree By Alfie Kohn Everyone is opposed to making educators implement lousy ideas — “lousy” being defined as something the speaker doesn’t like. But it’s a lot more challenging to take a stand against — and, if you’re in a position of relative power, to refuse to engage in — the practice … Read More
Schooling Beyond Measure (##)
EDUCATION WEEK September 19, 2012 Schooling Beyond Measure By Alfie Kohn [This is a slightly expanded version of the published article.] As we tend to value the results of education for their measurableness, so we tend to undervalue and at last ignore those results which are too intrinsically valuable to be measured. — Edmond G. A. Holmes, chief inspector of … Read More
Teachers Describe the Harms of Test-Driven School Reform
December 2009 Teachers Describe the Harms of Test-Driven School Reform By Alfie Kohn To understand the true impact of raise-the-bar, close-the-gap “school reform” – the type demanded by corporate executives, imposed by politicians of both parties, and celebrated by pundits – you need to hear from the people who spend their days in real classrooms. Never mind that no credible evidence has … Read More
Beware of School “Reformers”
THE NATION December 29, 2008 Beware of School “Reformers” By Alfie Kohn “If we taught babies to talk as most skills are taught in school, they would memorize lists of sounds in a predetermined order and practice them alone in a closet.” — Linda Darling-Hammond Political progressives are in short supply on the president-elect’s list of cabinet nominees. When he … Read More
Test Today, Privatize Tomorrow
PHI DELTA KAPPAN April 2004 Test Today, Privatize Tomorrow Using Accountability to “Reform” Public Schools to Death By Alfie Kohn I just about fell off my desk chair the other day when I came across my own name in an essay by a conservative economist who specializes in educational issues. The reason for my astonishment is that I was described … Read More
Only for My Kid: How Privileged Parents Undermine School Reform (*)
PHI DELTA KAPPAN April 1998 Only for My Kid How Privileged Parents Undermine School Reform By Alfie Kohn What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy. — John Dewey, School and Society Mike McClaren, … Read More