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This Thursday, Talk of the Nation will deal with school reform and testing. Below is
the article pertaining to the show giving times and such. This involves the Change
Leadership Group at Harvard. It should be some good listening.
A LIVE BROADCAST OF
NPR'S "TALK OF THE NATION"
School reform and high-stakes testing (the linking of high school graduation with
passing an exam) continue to be the subject of serious national debate. In the past
decade, almost every state implemented new standards that are linked to high-stakes
tests-and President Bush's education plan centers on the same concepts. States are now
dealing with fallout of the standards movement: high failure rates on tests,
increasing numbers of dropouts (some say because of the test), backlash from
parents-particularly in suburban communities-and the mass exodus of teachers out of
grade levels where exams are administered.
<<...OLE_Obj...>>
On Thursday, March 21, 2002, NPR, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and
WGBH/Frontline will sponsor a live broadcast of NPR's "Talk of the Nation"
<http://www.npr.org/programs/totn/> from the HGSE campus, focused on testing and
assessment and what it takes to improve our schools.
Program Schedule and Participants for the "Talk of the Nation" Broadcast Hour One
<participants.html> Hour Two <participants2.html>
Thursday's program will also feature an early screening of <<...OLE_Obj...>>
Frontline's "Testing Our Schools,"
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/> scheduled to air on PBS on
March 28. Massachusetts-one of the states featured in "Testing Our Schools"-is
considered a "battleground" state and provides a particularly fiery and dramatic
landscape for the show. The state has one of the most well-conceived education reform
packages in the country; it had broad-based, grassroots support when it was passed in
1993; the test-MCAS-is well-designed and considered a national model because of its
use of open-ended questions that require students to illustrate their facility with
concepts and language.
Yet MCAS and the other high-stakes tests remain the subject of much debate, and
parents and experts continue to ask whether tests drive improvement in low-performing
schools or encourage failing students to drop out?
How to Listen/Participate
The show will be broadcast live on NPR affiliates around the country. In the Boston
area, listeners can tune into WBUR Boston, 90.9 FM, or listen online at www.wbur.org
<http://www.wbur.org/>.
Listeners who are unable to attend the event are encouraged to submit questions by
phone or e-mail during the broadcast: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or
1-800-989-TALK.
For more information, please call 617-495-0740.
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