New ideas and out-of-the box solutions to our climate change, energy, food and water needs in this century will not come from teaching to the test. They will not come from answering the questions at the end of the chapter. This is too narrow a goal and too low a bar.
Quick, before it is lost altogether, please ensure that Science, Arts and Music, and with them the critical academic skills of forming questions, listening carefully, finding quality information, brainstorming, problem solving, teamwork, and learning from our mistakes become a critical part of every child's schooling.
It is the things we measure like math and reading that get priority in the school day.Critical thinking needs a different kind of measure -but lets not let the fact that it doesn't fit on a scantron stop us.