that they got away without being shot. but still was quite terrible lahood. he did not say how many of his comrades he executed that night. . .

[inaudible] and the representative but normally each of the candidates of the award is fully capable and deserving of the honor.

i say that with conviction. these are wonderful finalists. we are at 90 submissions this year. we have decided however to honor the last of the speakers this evening and the guggenheim award will be given to alexander watson. will you please join us? [applause] would you like to say a word or

two? >> i would like to thank the judges again for such an amazing honor and matter to her as well. [laughter] and secondly my publishers and. the last word the 14 -month-old daughter is that not right?

>> that is correct. >> let me close on the proceedings with ralph waldo emerson in a letter he wrote. at the beginning of a great career. [applause]

standardized testing in today's education system the discussion ranges from the introduction of the common course data standards to the cost to taxpayers up to $1.4 billion per year. >> my name is monica and the book passage is very happy to welcome the latest book the test on a our schools iar schools are obsessed with standardized testing but you don't have to be. it's about the failure of testing in american schools. children are more than test scores but in the last 20 years,

schools have dramatically increased standardized testing. in the era of no child left behind and the common core america's schools are sacrificing learning in favor of testing. how we preserve space for self-directed learning and development especially when we still want all children to hit the mark. npr education explores all sides of the question and what parents and teachers can do to help. with abundant data in the accessible form format this book is a must read for everybody in the educational system or any parent that has a child old enough to enter preschool. please give a warm welcome. [applause] >> thank you for coming. i am so thrilled to be able to visit this community. i was here five years ago for my

last book and it's such a great pleasure to get to the bookstores because they are my favorite thing. so, i wrote a test to bring the persona of a mama how to educate my daughter. i'd previously written about innovations in education that are released in cost quality access with the help of technology and other kinds of approaches to student centered learning and i wanted to write the same kind of book for educational children and i wrote a book forgot to talk about project based project-based learning and social emotional learning and makers spaces and it just wasn't that convincing. i talked to my agent about why and i said nine out of ten kids go to public schools and there isn't enough room for innovation these days because i was as are being held accountable for the

outcomes of these very limited standardized tests and the scores don't capture what the teachers are trying to accomplish with the other sort of experiences and models and so, you have, that's why it feels like it's not convincing here. i set out bravely on a project and it turned out to be sort of history, policy. when you write about how your education it's a very diverse and sort of independent in our society, but in k-12 this is one of our biggest public expenditures. nine out of ten half of these

children are poor. you can't write about school in america without writing about race and class and all of these issues come into the standardized testing story in a really strong and sort of unsettling way. to talk about that, you have to go back to the beginning to discover the bell curve and its earliest applications and what is new in the psychometrics or the signing of the human mind. and i was really personally floored to discover how the foundational minds who established the psychometrics and many more did so fundamentally for the conception of the intelligence that was fixed for ever. a bit. unitary. that is what they call up the factor on the intelligence portion of iq and baby leave

everybody had their brains some sort of microprocessor to give the capacity or speed and that if you measured that you would be able to sort people and then plan and predict the best. in that sense the guy that brought us the foundational figure. he created many foundational social science techniques to the aggression and ... periods to fix. it's a fixed quality in human beings. and testing psychometric testing become employed in different contexts to sort and correct for differences among the people and as we establish this broader society and try to make a it a run of opportunities was of extremely competitive.

but the idea of the meritocracy determined by the testing became sort of the safety valve. we have had a conversation about who gets what in society that you can point to the tests that say there's a path forward that are smart enough and therefore we have an open society. and what's really astonishing when you look at the history up to that point is after brown v. board of education they took a very different turn and they began to be supported for the fourth as an instrument of equity and something that was going to be be raised the vestiges where the legacy of racism in the practice of desegregating schools. we would use these tests to measure what is now called the

achievement gap and the differential achievement of people from different backgrounds primarily lower income and minority groups was now something that was going to be overcome with hard work. and i.e. the leave -- i believe many people that adopted this were well-intentioned. there was a strong undercurrent in the educational theory and the 60s or 70s to talk about the fact we need to raise a red expectations. we can't be complacent about the hard work making sure every child has the resources to achieve. when we talk about why we have no child left behind the argument you will hear from people is if we didn't have it then teachers wouldn't care about these kids. they wouldn't have to be responsible for these kids. and they would just say as long as the kids are getting breakfast i'm doing my job. i've never heard a teacher actually professed this.

we have these tests and severe limitations as an instrument assessments tools to get feedback about the learning and diagnose and help students direct their efforts. we've heard from a longtime big test companies. they were never intended to be the fulcrum on which we based the decisions about what schools open and close and what teachers left their jobs even about how whether they are promoted from one grade to the next because the standardized achievement tests are optimized for looking

at a population over the population they don't tell you that much about the independent students. however they are being used to and it doesn't mean we don't need the data about the performance of every single student and every single school it may very well be that we need that in order for school to improve. not just the expression that we want to get rid of them, but the test but we want to replace. so after i spent the first half of the book going through the arguments against testing, the arguments about how they impact teachers and how it impacts students and families and how it impacts the calls of the quality how diverse schools are actually run that are more in danger of being sanctioned in another child left behind but obviously we are wasting money on this because the money that is spent

is it isn't going towards improving teaching and learning to dislike improvements we have seen under no child left behind is in the achievement in no way greater than what we saw before no child left behind happened. there is no evidence in no and no child left behind in particular in increasing the lower rates making the achievement gap smaller or in improving the international standings. the common core tests the students are taking right now and the fact that they were touted as a huge improvement and many that i have talked to see a value in the standards, but the tests themselves are not enough of of the departure of for the departure of what has gone before. the independent experts they concluded that nothing like what is actually needed and they kind of elaborated and they don't

match the standards because it is impossible to produce a larger issue that costs $30 to administer and how that assesses the deeper learning. and this is sort of the air that we are running into again and again in our system where we believe it is going to be more scientific to optimize the education system but the more tests we have come at a lower quality the tests become and we have a situation right now where the tests are the individual items returned by the low-wage low-paid workers in the system and as well as when you have a written portion of the test it is great if is greeted by the same type of person. so the more we get because we are trying to add them onto the

roster. the new studies come out showing the larger school districts across the country. how many would you guess they are taking a loan from kindergarten through 12th grade? >> between ten and 30 a year is the highest we have seen. they were being driven by the state and they were following from the district as well because when you attach the high stakes to the test, the school district is going to want to administer the test. and so there are many purposes to the tests that students are taking none of which are completely clear and also not so much to the teachers as well.

as a guy want to talk about a little bit of the solutions. i found that in the work that i've done everyone is so different and people focus on different aspects and it depends on what you are coming in with and we want to spend plenty of time on that question. that's when i talk about the future of testing, i look at it and two parts. we needed a better accountability system and better assessments and the accountability system to stakes attached to the test. under no child left behind, the state tests are tied to the reorganization and at the teacher evaluation, they are tied onto the funding decisions in many different ways to get them to agree to certain things and then they are also affecting students and in some ways that is the most determined toll because we know that assessments are a part of how the students

form a mindset and attitude are out of learning and the fact that we are making school about the tests really inculcate this fixed mindset going back to the achievement of you are bored with the periods without the stakes there would be that much more than an annoyance. it's fair to think about the accountability. going back to where the states just have to submit the sort of good faith statements about what they are doing for the student

achievement. they talk about the resource accountability or the reciprocity and accountability into the idea being widely hold them for the accountability and come but not the districts and states for the input to the family income and a zip code is a massive factor in determining student success and get only the 14 states attempt to equalize or make the progressive funding between the districts most of the time we tolerate these disparities and yet we expect the schools that have the least to work the hardest to overcome what has been conceptualized in the gap. you could easily talk about the resource gap. resource accountability is one way of looking at it. another approach and the accountability is looking at the long-term factors and local

factors. now many more states are tracking students in the workforce and this raises their own questions in the data and privacy and also gives the ability to ask. it is such as the idea of what the students need to succeed is non- academic skills, social and emotional skills that comes from tracking students from the workforce and the schools projects providing this iron evidence about. it's in the plaintiff time we can use the longitudinal evidence to talk about the school in the district performance and close over the lifetime and what we in the

community can be doing to help that child succeed. so those are some of the accountability as i talk about and about and then there's testing itself. we know that they have a faulty concept of the core. there is a natural intelligence but so what. what is the motivation, how do they work overtime. it's the formative assessment in the classroom on a dalia basis and if you can somehow brought that back we would get a rich picture in the big data approach, get a picture of the student learning over time and

there are different types of software programs coming into play now that's what begetting broad-based evidence of the student learning over time and trajectory over time so that's what we are interested in. so, i talk in the book about the value of the performance-based assessment and why it's important to have an understanding of the knowledge that they are demonstrating about advanced interdisciplinary projects that allow them to demonstrate their skills in the 21st century skills with technology and talk about the performance-based assessment in the way of doing testing that the testing is inherently integrated into the learning process for teachers in that assessment schools in new york city has 28 of the high schools have much better outcomes in terms of dropout rate.

they are creating and designing the assessment and collaborating with other teachers across the sector across the different schools. and finally i talk about the technology and other ways that technology can be used to gather the broad-based evidence. we are still pursuing that model today even though we are starting with the internet so what is the 21st century model for the assessment? i collect david cook on the team unicorn in the book because it is mythical but many of the students have experience, great experience getting the feedback through the games and they teach you how to play them as you play.

they give you instant information where you were going and how you are doing and they offer you the chance to try again and to better the next do better the next day. organizations here in redwood city all working on creating the games for the learning and assessment where the game is gathering evidence that students and decision-making and creating the models of how students understand the high order concepts. so the first version is of the game simcity. like you were the mayor of a city and in this particular game you have to place the power plants and worry about pollution and jobs and electricity and all these things and this is a game that is the test of the system thinking so the idea.

the game has evidence of the basis of the judgment by human beings. that is all well and good when it comes to technology that we know that the policy isn't just based on the best or the most available evidence. the question that we have right now as parents and teachers and students is what happens next. i talk to parents in the off-topic movement who decided the best way to respond to the tests is not to take them. and i talked to leaders in the teacher movement who see the testing as a focal point of a broad debate about how we support public education in the country and when and where we are going with it. i do really this is going to be

decided as much at the ballot box as it is in the realm of research and accountability. so the question is then transparency for kids in the school system or anyone that has any relationship in the future at all. what are you going to do about the testing situation? thanks. [applause] >> i am just -- how i see it from those examples is the emotional factor that involved.

i can't say this child is clearly slower than this child but they are different. so he tested a superhigh on a pacing but then superlow on to something else and it makes no sense. >> it's important and i'm glad you brought that up. it affects them strong enough to depress the results. so it is overlooked and how we interpret the results because what you are looking at is the performance of people who aren't affected by anxiety and those that are and who are in no way achievers in other contexts so we are missing out on a ton of talent and telling successful

people wrong messages about who they are and what they are good at. >> i have one kid that is quiet and very comfortable testing and definitely super high tester but it's for a completely different reason. the >> mind form can help with the self talk and the negative anxiety that comes in when they are trying to solve a problem. so the fact that the brain gets stronger with practice like a muscle that there is research on that and they are step-by-step tests people have taken as opposed to some traditional test practice. >> don't. the >> don't you almost have to start with the sat because i

hate that they are taking all of these but on the other hand they are going to need a lot of practice once they get up to this masters of all tests and so it is essential to them moving on. >> since the author has moved on to the college board and has no kind of offered a relaunch of the sat to further integrate the state test. ..

>> >> where they have to envision how they looked at

people but on the other hand to predict performance over and above gpa. but they have been turned into this very handy metric they're not due to take the s.a.t. if they don't want to. they don't have to. >> that perhaps another level was the of a status so how low do they do that without totally missing the point? >> i talk about that in the book so things rasping --

asking. in the inventory those questions in there pretty simple that someone cares about the. win you integrate this formula with the high stakes there is a chance to gain the system. with city monday horsham that can be gained. in the public schools that introduced a measure of social emotional boxers with fat component not to be punished him the metrics that there were corn include absenteeism and turnover in the way to assess it is

similar to the u.k. with the accountability process. and talking to those that try to figure out how to put social learning with multiple choice formats. but then that mature called by itself and sick days for students with various behavior's that could be very powerful. >> so objective testing in

you speak about that? >> because we all make assessments and the impulse to the data is very strong in the culture right now with those metrics we don't necessarily in the stand the quality of the data for the nature of a of rhythm and i feel that we're at that medieval level those that creates those algorithms. sometimes the solution is what about asking very hard questions into these judgments?

there are fair minded folks you if you ask them there will freely admit the proficiency should not have been legislated for one had to percent of the students. we defined proficiency with the idea 100 percent would pass that point it is a laudable ideal but absurdity in practice. >>. >> i will read your book. but i wonder what about examples for younker grades in to me that seems to be the right place to talk about families this is where at your child goes through in this is way to show what they know. so that is my question about the push back from the

youngest grades and that my school we have a regular now common for testing but we tell them what is expected of them. >> i agree. leasing teachers of the younger children have a role to play to speak loudly but science tellus about individual growth. i believe the expansion of 3k has an opportunity to talk about if a high quality school assuming you cannot believe that test data you get from for year-old son will be attempts to reduce standardized assessments than they have been already there is an academic test with academic material for kindergarten admissions. it is not likely to be valid with the terms of what they are trying to reduce. but parents to come into

kindergarten of when you have a child every petty tellers do they develop at their own rate to don't worry about the of percentile there is a broad range of powerful - - normal development they're all different what is important to sarah thriving in happy now that completely comes to a halt if you don't read by the time you are in third grade you will never graduate college. can hope to buy the book and read it and give it to all of her parents. >> bid to meet you. >> i was reading about this saying that we have in california where children are in control of their own content because their

children you put it on line then the idea they owned there content intended has been proposed in other states but it is here but it does not affect within the ruins of a school also and they take their test, the system knows if the parents are divorced, they don't take into account the good days or bad days or that i guess the concern is and i think there are laws proposed to include the schools but as technology comes into the system this is a bigger concern especially with identity theft and mishandling of information. >> yes. thanks for bringing that up.

this is an issue that will a get bigger before it goes away. not just for students but studer privacy issue is part of the overall privacy issue because it is our children. california has a generous law there will be a bill introduced tomorrow in the house nationally that follows on to some of california's law but not all of it in the student privacy issue isn't just about testing although that is important with the consequence roll information -- consequential information and i will just say the aspects of the data to be classified by students in

the schools then the of vendors. so there are security issues this data is stolen or enough for in the exposed for identity theft or used to make money. then there is the commercialization with my students data with that target advertising issue advertise while doing her homework or it is very difficult to define improper commercial all the issues because any information that goes into there will be used to improve the product itself the more people use a product like googled better it becomes so we have actually already turned into

to commercial data so how do in the myth that is the question. and certainly most to the point is privacy of my students it goes on to their permanent record that it will be used to make decisions about them in ways that we cannot control. and you can see this in the innocuous way that is, predicted analytics that is the target to try to tell the you are pregnant before you do so they make suggestions and then to sell your products. but with the schools i looked at the data with a low-income kids coming hispanic migrant worker committee so i believe that they're at risk to drop out.

sealock get the data and data protection that could be used to help them intervene but it is also worth reshaping the believe some of the kid so we all though the when teachers given permission there led to believe if they are gifted send students achieve more. such as of this comprehensive dossier the readout says this kit is a potential dropouts. that is the kind of question and even in the court of public opinion when rely cover kids you have a break?

what about the value of that information as may talk about reducing dropping out in general. it is very complex and totally fascinating and scary as well. >> 25 years from now you were all in a book tour with the sequel what are you talking about? >> a great question. i would love to be talking about how the next generation of assessments opened our eyes to each person's capabilities that allow us that each student graduate of of robust record that they could years to qualify themselves to the

above warehouse -- to the employer you could see students using information to improve how to learn. if i could call up that sum total first grade through high school it would be three own thinking and scat -- and interest. so the promise is all how you do it. >> so to talk about. >> host: day with learning and of the mastery competency model. and sellers like for the future is that a synergy to

put that into standardized testing? >> it is. i am getting interesting information from the tech company that they will reduce the burden by making it invisible. and they said they lobbied the experiment to do away with the five questions a day. new anxiety it is lowe's takes changing from student to student there is important topics people learn more about what they know. also with us certain set of questions could is satisfied that question or construct

with the teacher created assessment as well? the past and of -- the path of least resistance but as long as you have the human is declined to take every is interesting potential there. >> it is how much can i know but not how much are you teaching me to think and then to find out how you do. so with the unlimited resources is incredibly