A student practices for the PARCC standardized test. (Denver Post file)
Re: “New education debate: local control vs. accountability,” June 21 Perspective article.
State Board of Education member Steven J. Durham made many assertions about education in Colorado.
As an educator, I was disappointed by Durham’s column because it shows he hasn’t done his homework. If he had, he’d know PARCC is shorter than previous Colorado tests. Last year TCAP took six days to administer in my school. This year PARCC took five. Some schools may take longer, but thatap an issue with school funding and resources, not the test.
He also wouldn’t need to ask “what is being tested by this new, so-called rigorous testing regiment.” The answer is analytical thinking skills. College and career readiness requires the application and analysis of knowledge, not memorization.
Finally, my experience hasn’t been “local control vs. accountability,” but local control combined with accountability. Common Core and PARCC’s focus on skills enable me to teach those skills through content aligned to my local community’s values and then measure students’ mastery of those skills.
Mr. Durham, please do your homework.
Drew Madson, Denver
The writer is a history teacher at the Denver School of Science and Technology’s Green Valley Ranch high school campus.
This letter was published in the June 28 edition.
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