Failing the Tests

The Philadelphia Inquirer has featured strong stories the past two Sundays that dig deep beneath the surface of standardized testing. "In Reading, Dick Lags far behind Jane" by Kristen A. Graham and Dan Hardy looks at why boys are falling so far behind girls in most educational benchmarks. I like how Hardy and Graham evaluate the possible reasons for the gap and look at what different school are trying to do to combat the problem. "Principal Tells of Pressure to Cheat" by Melanie Burney, Frank Kummer and Dwight Ott shares a whistleblower's story of how he was threatened with losing his job if he didn't change student answer sheets. Thanks to Brian Summers for tipping me off to this story.