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Thursday, September 15, 2011

DC To Implement Sex, Drug Standardized Tests

The Washington Post (9/15, Turque) reports that starting next spring, the DC Public Schools will implement standardized tests to determine what students "know about human sexuality, contraception and drug use starting this spring. The 50-question exam will be the nation's first statewide standardized test on health and sex education, according to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which developed the assessment for grades 5, 8 and 10." The tests are intended to help officials examine "student attitudes toward risky behavior." The Post notes that the plan "combines two political and cultural flash points in American schools: sex education and standardized testing."


 

Standardized Testing For Sex-Ed Seen As Indicative Of Larger Problem. Valerie Strauss writes in the Washington Post (9/15) "Answer Sheet" blog that she "can just imagine the skit Jon Stewart and his crew at The Daily Show will put together" based on reports that "D.C. schools officials have written the nation's first statewide standardized test on sex education, drug use and health." D.C. Council member Mary Cheh, who sponsored the legislation, "says she didn't anticipate" that the requirement to report on the district's progress on improving student health would lead to standardized testing. Strauss uses this example and others to frame a larger argument questioning the usefulness of testing. In defense of the DC measure, one supporter said that "what gets measured gets done." But Strauss argues that "he should probably take note of the new SAT scores that show a downward spiral over years in reading despite obsessive testing over the last decade in the subject."

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