Down with exams

I had an interesting coffee morning the other day. Well, the coffee was pretty usual but the conversation was interesting. A former British Prime Minister has proposed eliminating terminal assessment, aka as final exams, in favor of continuous assessment. Many of his arguments are country or culture-specific, but the exam v continuous assessment topic is an important discussion.

What`s wrong with Democratic and Republican positions on education

Like any educator, I am following (or at least trying to follow) the major parties` positions on K-12 education. While those particular bones have plenty of meat, and some significant differences between them, there is one underlying truth to which both subscribe. Rs and Ds alike adhere to the same principle that there exists a body of knowledge, of "facts", which students should acquire. Much of the disputation in K - 12 education revolves around this body of knowledge, and the problem is that this view is wrong.