And I thank him for doing so.
From the Plain Dealer, if you can believe it:
Rocky River Middle School Principal David Root critical of emphasis on school tests - Regina Brett
'We don't teach kids anymore,' principal says
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Regina Brett
Plain Dealer ColumnistIt's 3 screen pages long; I've <snipped> some of the highlights, but it's worth reading the whole thing.
he school report cards came out in June.
Rocky River Middle School did well on the 2008 Ohio Achievement Tests, re quired to be given each year to assess math, read ing, science, social studies and writing skills among all the state's public-school students in grades three through eight. The school earned an "Excellent" rating and met the mandates for Adequate Yearly Progress.
For all those accomplishments, Principal David Root has only one thing to say to the students, staff and citizens of Rocky River:
He's sorry.
Root wants to issue an apology. He sent it to me typed out in two pages, single-spaced.
He's sorry that he spent thousands of tax dollars on test materials, practice tests, postage and costs for test administration.
Sorry that his teachers spent less time teaching American history because most of the social-studies test questions are about foreign countries.
Sorry that he didn't suspend a student for assaulting another because the attacker would have missed valuable test days.
Sorry he didn't strictly enforce attendance rules because all absences count against the school on the State Report Card.
He's sorry for pulling children away from art, music and gym, classes they love, so they could learn test-taking strategies. <more snips>
He cringed when he heard one say, "I really want to do well, but I'm not that smart."
He wants students to learn how to think, not how to take tests.
"We don't teach kids anymore," he said. "We teach test-taking skills. We all teach to the test. I long for the days when we used to teach kids." http://www.cleveland.com/brett/plaindealer... 
