Arne Duncan: Don’t teach to the test

by David Safier

Ed Sec Arne Duncan wants more reliance on educational data but doesn't want teachers to teach to the test?

Public schools in the United States need to try to spark creative thinking in children and move away from curriculums that just teach to standardized tests, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told nearly 200 people gathered Monday at the Emerging Issues Forum at the Raleigh Convention Center.

"We want to give every child a chance to discover their genius, what they're best at," Duncan said.

That's great. I'm with you all the way.

Now, Arne, please show us how to thread that needle. Convince administrators and teachers that, though they live and die by student test scores, they're supposed to help students discover their inner genius. It looks more like we're helping children discover their inner test bubble.

I sure hope you you can make that "discover their genius" thing work.