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New Jersey Legislators Need to Stand up
Thursday, February 12th, 2015By Christopher Tienken, Ed.D. and Julia Sass Rubin, Ph.D. The first administration of the experimental new PARCC high-stakes standardized tests is only weeks away and parents are increasingly concerned. Hundreds of families have notified their school districts that their children …
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PARKING the RHETORIC on PARCC
Saturday, January 24th, 2015Some people have tried to categorize me as anti-standards and anti-testing. I am not “anti” standards and testing, I am pro-evidence. The empirical evidence simply does not support the use of one-size-fits-all curriculum standards and high stakes testing as effective …
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Charter High Schools & SAT: What Do
Saturday, December 20th, 2014CLAIMS Charter schools are marketed to the public as incubators of innovation offering superior levels of student achievement and college and career readiness when compared to traditional public schools. Charter school expansion is supported by some policy makers and bureaucrats …
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SAT as Poor Indicator of School & T
Friday, December 12th, 2014The New Jersey Department of Education recently released the “menu” of standardized tests that high school students can use to satisfy the archaic exit-exam policy that governs New Jersey high school graduation. The menu includes things like PARCC tests for …
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TRICK or TREAT TESTING NJDOE STYLE
Friday, October 31st, 2014Its Halloween, so that means its time for a spooky, scary message from the NJDOE about the evils of opting out of PARCC testing and how school superintendents need to put on their scary faces when parents bring up the …
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BOARDS OF EDUCATION: THE LAST LINE OF DE
Monday, October 27th, 2014Below are comments adapted from a presentation given on Oct. 26, 2014 at the Montclair Cares About Schools panel discussion on the responsibilities of school boards. As I look out over the current school reform landscape I see it is …
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Problem and Project Based Resources to U
Thursday, October 16th, 2014Below are links to 22 problem-based and project-based resources for all grade levels that can be used to customize curriculum, un-standardize thinking, and jumpstart creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Webpages can also be found at: http://www.scoop.it/t/problem-based-learning-by-christopher-tienken 1. PBLU: http://pblu.org/ Go to …
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You Can’t Standardize Creativity
Friday, August 8th, 2014Based on the article: Tienken, C.H. (2013). International comparisons of creativity and innovation. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 49, 153-155. The release of the 2012 results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) on December 3, 2012, by the …
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Political Incompetence, Not Public Ed.
Monday, May 19th, 2014The unending cacophony of stories of public education failure and a need to reform it for the future has been ongoing since before the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2002). Education bureaucrats, pundits, …
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NJDOE Performance Report: A Follow Up
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014New Jersey School Performance Reports: A Follow-up Christopher Tienken Bureaucrats at the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) released a memo on April 11, 2013 to unveil the new, but in my opinion, not improved, performance reports for all schools …
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