Yesterday, United States President Barack Obama agreed with millions of Americans, saying that standardized testings must not go over 2 percent of a child's classroom experience.
At a meeting of the Open Government Partnership at the United Nations, President Obama announced four new and expanded open government initiatives to promote open education, helping teachers and students across the world.
The President said he agrees that students are spending too much time on testing in the classroom, and not on learning.
This is an important victory for the millions of parents how have taken to protesting at their local board of education boards across the nation - and in the voting booth.
His plan is to work with states and the department of education, making sure his three major points are utizlized, that:
Tests worth taking - and of high quality.
Tests should not occupy too much classroom time
Tests should be one source of information - used alongside other work and surveys.
His plan also included key steps:
--Raise open education awareness and identify new partnerships. The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Office of Science and Technology.
--Policy will jointly host a workshop on challenges and opportunities in open education internationally with stakeholders from academia, industry, and government. The session will foster collaboration among OGP members and other interested governments and will produce best practices to inform good policies in open education.
--Pilot new models for using open educational resources to support learning. The State Department will conduct three pilots overseas by December 2015 that use open educational resources to support learning in formal and informal learning contexts. The pilots’ results, including best practices, will be made publicly available for interested educators.
--Launch an online skills academy. The Department of Labor (DOL), with cooperation from the Department of Education, will award $25 million through competitive grants to launch an online skills academy in 2015 that will offer open online courses of study, using technology to create high-quality, free, or low-cost pathways to degrees, certificates, and other employer-recognized credentials. This academy will help students prepare for in-demand careers. Courses will be free for all to access on an open learning platform, although limited costs may be incurred for students seeking college credit that can be counted toward a degree. Leveraging emerging public and private models, the investments will help students earn credentials online through participating accredited
institutions, and expand the open access to curriculum designed to speed the time to credit and completion.
The online skills academy will also leverage the burgeoning marketplace of free and open-licensed learning resources, including content developed
through DOL’s community college grant program, to ensure that workers can get the education and training they need to advance their careers, particularly in key areas of the economy.
To learn more, click here.
