It’s time to let everyone—parents in Arizona and other states, along with state and national policymakers—see the results of Arizona’s education savings accounts. Over 400 children are using the accounts this year, and thousands more become eligible next year.
But a critical feature is missing from the accounts, and it is the same feature missing from Arizona’s private school tuition scholarship tax credit: We need a way to be sure children in these programs are learning.
It is exciting to see so many children attend the school that challenges them and prepares them for life through a tax credit scholarship or savings account. But children are shortchanged if our expectations stop at the schoolhouse doors. Unless they take regular assessments to measure their progress, how does a child or her parents or teachers know whether she is being prepared for the future?
The savings accounts and scholarships are also vulnerable to attack if we can never show that children using the programs are succeeding. Test results can also help schools see what is and is not working for the children using savings accounts or tax credit scholarships.
In his book Tests, Testing, and Genuine School Reform, Herbert J. Walberg explains that testing regimens are related to better student outcomes. A study of students required to take either the Advanced Placement, New York State Regents, or Canadian exams found that these students “perform nearly a full year ahead” their peers. Another study of 39 nations taking the same international test found that “students in rich and poor nations learned the most when their countries employed external, curriculum-based examinations.”
Details on testing are important; we will have to sweat the small stuff. The link below to our research explains how and why parents should be able to choose a test for their child and not be forced to take the state test. The state doesn’t need to be overly prescriptive, but students should be tested. We owe it to the thousands of children who could be receiving a better education to make sure those who have the freedom to choose their school now are actually getting one.
• Jonathan Butcher is education director for the Goldwater Institute.
JMJ posted at 9:32 am on Sat, Dec 8, 2012.
Leon, "irregardless" [groan...] you are still a Froot Loop.
Oh, wait.
LEON, "IRREGARDLESS", YOU ARE STILL A FROOT LOOP.
I forgot I have to type it in
BOLD STUPID 200 FONT SO YOU COULD ACTUALLY HEAR IT AS WELL AS SEE IT.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 6:45 pm on Fri, Dec 7, 2012.
Boy...did I stir up the Liberal "creepy-crawlies" with my comments.......[beam]
sockratties posted at 1:58 pm on Fri, Dec 7, 2012.
And leon the troll has so many years teaching experience and so much expertise!
leon, hanging around school yards trying to see how the kids dress isn't the same as teaching. Still creepy and still trolling.
Mike McClellan posted at 1:43 pm on Fri, Dec 7, 2012.
Leon, Leon, Leon . . .
At least get your facts right -- vouchers aren't needed for charter schools, because charters can't charge tuition. They are public schools.
Don, if something like this ever happened, AIMS will be long gone, since it'll be replaced with the Common Core testing in 2015, with 46 states taking the same battery of tests, supposedly at a much high level of testing than is the AIMS test.
DonMey posted at 1:18 pm on Fri, Dec 7, 2012.
Aren't they taking the AIMS test? (yes, it is a pathetic test that needs to be drastically redone)
Leon Ceniceros posted at 10:39 am on Fri, Dec 7, 2012.
Mr. Durham.........ALL ARIZONA PUBLIC AND CHARTER SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE SUBJECT TO AIMS TESTING....IRREGARDLESS IF THEY ARE VOUCHER STUDENTS OR NOT.
BY THE WAY...LOOKED UP THE "CRED'S" ON THE GUEST COLUMNIST. NEVER TAUGHT A DAY IN HIS LIFE.....ALL THEORY AND NO EXPERIENCE IN THE CLASSROOM...............AT LEAST MICKY HAD THAT (9 MONTHS OUT OF THE YEAR ANYWAY.........[wink]
Leon Ceniceros posted at 10:33 am on Fri, Dec 7, 2012.
Micky, Micky, Micky.....still smarting after more than a month since the good Citizens of Arizona voted down the Teacher's Union and Construction/Labor Unions sponsored ....PROPOSITION 204.....BY A .....2 to 1 MARGIN......all those tens of millions of Union Member dues doing the old "Kibo" (as any old Boy Scout knows....lol).
Micky, move on....get over it...water under the bridge...etc.
Tax Payers pay extra money for "Minority" students too. So if it is fair to single out the "Voucher" program recipients then it should be fair to single out Black students, Hispanic students and Native American students who also receive extra Educational Funds from the Tax Payers............let's see you try and put these Minority students through some "segregated" testing and see how far that gets........[wink]
mikedurham posted at 10:12 am on Fri, Dec 7, 2012.
Is Mr. Butcher saying that private account funded children are not subject to AIMS testing because of tax deductible contributions to these accounts? The quid pro quo needs some seious review for educational and funding issues, if so.
Mike McClellan posted at 9:17 am on Fri, Dec 7, 2012.
Yikes! I actually agree with Mr. Butcher.
The test to be administered is obvious: It should be the same Common Core exams the kids in public schools take.
Theoretically, we would have the voucher kids' scores while in public school to compare to their scores in private schools.
But all -- emphasis on "all" -- voucher kids in private schools should be tested, not just the ones who volunteer.
And if those scores don't show much, if any, growth compared to their earlier scores or to their peers in public schools, would Mr. Butcher be ready to say that vouchers are not the magic bullet for education?
After all, the guy who runs the Great Hearts Academy charter system has complained about how hard it is to educate some populations, like the kids from poor homes, having tried -- so far with little success -- to have one of their charters in a high-poverty area.