Changes NEXT EXIT 7
Successive waves of social and education rejorm ^ have been fundamentally flawed, js time for something bolder and better. I
H
Andrew Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley
ave you come to believe that standardization and accountability are here to stay? Does it seem that education leaders have tittle choice but to be compliance officers and data managers who tweak test performance and enforce the latest mandates? If so, think again. Consider the following snapshots of change: • A high-profile group of husiness and education ieaders, which includes two former U.S. secretaries of education, complains that the U.S. education 56
system has become obsessed with testing basic skills. The group calls for a complete overhaul of current assessment practices (New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, 2007). • Singapore urges its educators to "Teach Less, Learn More" and mandates that all teachers must have 10 percent of their time free to come up with independent lessons designed to enhance student motivation and creativity. • In Britain's Celtic fringe (in contrast to England, whose students are the most
EDUCAtiüNAL LEADERSHIP/OCTOBER 2008
tested in the world), Scotland continues to resist standardized testing, Wales has abohshed all state testing up to age 14, and Northern Ireland is preparing to abandon the selective exams students take at age l L • None of the Nordic countries, which are among the highest performers on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), even has an indigenous term for accountability. Instead, these countries speak oï collective responsibility (Hargreaves, Halász, & Pont, 2007).