Agree or agree to disagree. Alfie Kohn makes no mistake in being crystal clear about his perspectives on education and how many teachers are frankly doing it wrong (do you dangle the carrot?). Here is an excerpt from one of his blogs:
"Assessment literally means to sit beside, and that’s just what our most thoughtful educators urge us to do. Yetta Goodman coined the compound noun “kidwatching” to describe reading with each child to gauge his or her proficiency. Marilyn Burns insists that one-on-one conversations tell us far more about students’ mathematical understanding than a test ever could — since all wrong answers aren’t alike. Of course this assumes that we’re really interested in kids’ understanding, not merely their level of phonemic awareness or ability to apply an algorithm. The less ambitious one’s educational goals, the more likely that a test will suffice — and that the words testing and assessing will be used interchangeably."
You can find the whole post HERE.
If you're up for it, check out THIS video featuring Kohn speaking on education and competition. Skip to the 14:00 mark if you're pressed for time. And you won't want to miss what Kohn says at the 32:55 mark.
"Assessment literally means to sit beside, and that’s just what our most thoughtful educators urge us to do. Yetta Goodman coined the compound noun “kidwatching” to describe reading with each child to gauge his or her proficiency. Marilyn Burns insists that one-on-one conversations tell us far more about students’ mathematical understanding than a test ever could — since all wrong answers aren’t alike. Of course this assumes that we’re really interested in kids’ understanding, not merely their level of phonemic awareness or ability to apply an algorithm. The less ambitious one’s educational goals, the more likely that a test will suffice — and that the words testing and assessing will be used interchangeably."
You can find the whole post HERE.
If you're up for it, check out THIS video featuring Kohn speaking on education and competition. Skip to the 14:00 mark if you're pressed for time. And you won't want to miss what Kohn says at the 32:55 mark.