The billion-dollar problem in education | Tanishia Lavette Williams

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 29 February 2024

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Standardized testing is deeply woven into the fabric of US education, but does it foster genuine learning? Educator Tanishia Lavette Williams sheds light on the racial biases, financial costs and limited effectiveness of this kind of testing — calling for a fundamental shift to prioritize teacher-led instruction and empower students.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise Hugh.
0:06.0	Let's take a little step back in time to prepping for and taking standardized tests in school.
0:12.0	Who can forget, right? standardized tests in school.
0:12.7	Who can forget, right?
0:14.5	In many states, we started taking these in third grade
0:17.2	and continued right on up through the end of high school.
0:20.4	At the TED Ed Educator Talks event in 2024, education researcher Tanishia Williams offers a really compelling alternative to high stakes testing.
0:29.0	After the break, why another form of accountability is far more equitable.
0:35.9	We have a very expensive habit of creating
0:41.2	and administering standardized assessments.
0:44.4	Do you remember taking tests in school?
0:46.6	Yeah, yeah you do.
0:48.4	Chances are you may have been one of those people
0:50.6	who said, I'm gonna stay up all night I'm going to study I'm going
0:53.8	read all these things and if I can just remember 25 more of these vocabulary
0:58.6	words the probability of my score goes up 2.3%. Or maybe you were one of those ones who said if I just
1:06.9	lay this book on my head the words will automatically seep into my brain.
1:13.6	No matter either situation, you knew
1:16.8	that the outcome of those assessments
1:19.0	would play a very important role in your future. So chances are if you grew up in any of the 50
1:26.0	states in America you participated in standardized assessments. In fact,
1:30.8	depending on where you live you may have started in third grade and then tested every year until you graduated.
	...

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