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Westchester County, NY May 15, 2007 Election
Smart Voter

Enhancing Curriculum Despite Testing Mandates

By Jacqueline "Jackie" Burns

Candidate for Member, Board of Education; Hastings-on-Hudson Union Free School District

This information is provided by the candidate
How do we prevent the curriculum and the daily educational experience from becoming test-driven? We must keep history, art and music, and the encouragement of creative self expression integral parts of the educational process, despite federal and state mandates to the contrary. To say education is a process and a life-long affair may seem trite, but it is actually a notion that is falling more and more out of favor as we focus on test scores. Additionally, as people worry about their property-tax burden and property values, we must fight the notion that scores on tests are evidence of a well-educated population or happy children. Actually educating human beings is a difficult and expensive proposition and we need to make sure we continue to educate whole human beings, not simply test-takers.

One of the basic values of the District is that "all students can learn." I am excited by the hire of a curriculum director. Part of the mandate for this position is making sure that the curriculum is presented in each classroom in a truly functioning and comprehensive manner. This endeavor to create equality of educational opportunity must include providing meaningful instruction to children at all cognitive and developmental levels in the classroom. To be successful at this, the community must promote teachers' efforts to enhance their instructional skills while always positively supporting their ability to remain dynamic and creative educators in the classroom. We must keep in mind that any "streamlining" of curriculum poses the danger that adherence to set goals in the classroom takes over as the educational model. The most vital thing is that teachers continue to teach to the individual children in front of them.

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ny/wst Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 9, 2007 09:36
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