High-Stakes Schooling : What We Can Learn from Japan's Experiences with Testing, Accountability, and Education Reform / Christopher Bjork.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bjork, Christopher, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Educational change--Japan.

Educational change.

Curriculum change--Japan.

Curriculum change.

Educational tests and measurements--Japan.

Educational tests and measurements.

Educational change--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (260 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

If there is one thing that describes the trajectory of American education, it is this: more high-stakes testing. In the United States, the debates surrounding this trajectory can be so fierce that it feels like we are in uncharted waters. As Christopher Bjork reminds us in this study, however, we are not the first to make testing so central to education: Japan has been doing it for decades. Drawing on Japan's experiences with testing, overtesting, and recent reforms to relax educational pressures, he sheds light on the best path forward for US schools. Bjork asks a variety of important questions related to testing and reform: Does testing overburden students? Does it impede innovation and encourage conformity? Can a system anchored by examination be reshaped to nurture creativity and curiosity? How should any reforms be implemented by teachers? Each chapter explores questions like these with careful attention to the actual effects policies have had on schools in Japan and other Asian settings, and each draws direct parallels to issues that US schools currently face. Offering a wake-up call for American education, Bjork ultimately cautions that the accountability-driven practice of standardized testing might very well exacerbate the precise problems it is trying to solve.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Tables

One. Searching for Solutions

Two. Framing the Education Crisis

Three. Examining the Impact of Reform Policies

Four. The Teaching Force

Five. Nurturing Enthusiasm in Elementary School Students

Six. Responses to Change in the Middle Schools

Seven. Curricular Reform, Academic Achievement, and Educational Opportunity

Eight. Shifting Student- Teacher Relationships

Nine. Broadening the Discussion

Ten. US Teachers Reflect on Japanese Elementary School Instruction

Eleven. Looking Forward

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226309552

022630955X

OCLC:

1058316894