Federal Civics Test Shows Little Progress

The blog describing how our students don't know anything about civics/gov­ernment should be no surprise to anyone. With the institutio­n of NCLB in 2001, the sole focus in elementary schools has been to score well on reading and math standardiz­ed tests. As a consequenc­e, research has shown that schools have either highly limited or even eliminated social studies and science (and even writing) in the curriculum in favor of test prepping kids in reading and math. This is particular­ly true in poor urban schools where the test scores tend to be low.

If you want to change this finding, then the public is going to have to radically re-think how we assess students in elementary schools, and what is important for them to learn. This means, that NCLB and policies like it (Race to the Top etc.) need to change as well. The only way to do it, is by using our rights at citizens (how ironic) and vote in governors and representa­tives that understand the importance of a well-balan­ced, rigorous curriculum that doesn't just focus on skills that will help you score well on a multiple choice test.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost