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This blog will include comments concerning academic, political and technical issues regarding the usage of social networking and other educational communications technology tools for empowering democratic dialogue and creative curriculum and pedagogy.
I agree with Karen Lewis's position regarding educational reform. In all of the policy efforts that have been made to improve and reform the educational system, especially in Chicago, the welfare of the students and parents is often put into the background while the goal of increasing test scores is brought to the forefront. There needs to be a strong movement toward transforming the education system for the benefit of the students' learnings. Students need to be taught, not brainwashed into knowing which answers are correct on a standardized test. They need to learn how to be successful in life and how to live as a social citizen. Tests simply cannot measure one's learning abilities because there are many strong test takers who do well on exams, but they may lack the proper social skills or motivation to channel the same kinds of strengths in other areas of their lives. With this being the case, educational reform would be going in a more effective direction if it were aimed at educating students for social justice causes and influencing them to develop personal achievement goals.
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