Reblogged from  A View From The Edge by Rob Miller

In the famous words of former President George W. Bush:

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee–I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee–that says, fool me once, shame on–shame on you. Fool me–you can’t get fooled again.”

It’s so much better to hear it directly from his mouth.

President Barack Obama apparently doesn’t subscribe to this belief.

He and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, are trying to convince us once again they are opposed to excessive standardized testing as well as the practice of tying the results to rewards and punishments for students and schools.

According to a story published in today’s New York Times, the Obama administration is now calling for limits on the amount of testing in American schools.

In a video posted to Facebook by the White House on Saturday, President Obama pledged to take steps to reduce testing overload.

In “moderation, smart, strategic tests can help us measure our kids’ progress in school, and it can help them learn,” Obama said. “But I also hear from parents who, rightly, worry about too much testing, and from teachers who feel so much pressure to teach to a test that it takes the joy out of teaching and learning, both for them and for the students. I want to fix that.”

It all sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? It also sounds rather familiar.

If you recall, sixteen months ago, Secretary Duncan also called for a reduction of over-testing, saying: Too much testing can rob school buildings of joy, and cause unnecessary stress. This issue is a priority for us, and we’ll continue to work throughout the fall on efforts to cut back on over-testing.

So, what has Duncan done since that time to address this issue? That would be precisely nothing. Read More>>