The Pitfalls of Testing-Based Education
  • April 2, 2013

The Pitfalls of Testing-Based Education

The Pitfalls of Testing-Based Education

As 35 Atlanta educators are investigated for fudging standardized test scores, the bigger issue is the high-stakes testing that's taken over our education system.

Chris Hayes
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Atlanta's cheating scandal has gripped the nation, with 35 educators indicted Friday for raising their students' standardized test scores. But while the scandal should be investigated and dishonest teachers held to account, the overall picture is more complicated. On the first episode of his new primetime show on MSNBC, Chris Hayes also takes a critical look at the testing-obsessed education system that has created an incentive for this kind of cheating.

Speaking with a panel that includes Nation contributor and NYU education professor Pedro Noguera, Hayes discusses the nationwide practice of evaluating education mainly on the basis of test scores under George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind and Barack Obama's Race to the Top laws. 

—Alec Luhn

It's a been a big week for Nation contributors Chris Hayes and Katha Pollitt, Katrina vanden Heuvel writes.

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Chris Hayes Chris Hayes is the Editor-at-Large of The Nation and host of “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC.


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