By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Excessive testing angers parents, but supporters see it as necessary
99c6ec4516
Florida is ground zero for test mania, The New York Times reports. - photo by istockphoto.com/travenian
Eric Schulzke
Deseret News National
Updated: Nov 19, 2014, 4:00 PM
Published: Nov 18, 2014, 6:24 PM

The well-intentioned movement for school and teacher accountability has begun to feed on itself, The New York Times reported, and many parents are rebelling against a high-stress testing regime that, in some schools, apparently has kids taking tests for 60 to 80 days out of a 180-day school year.

“This is the proverbial perfect storm of testing that has hit not only Florida but all the states,” Alberto M. Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Schools, told The Times. “This is too much, too far, too fast, and it threatens the fabric of real accountability.”

"Frustrations also center on the increase this year in the number of tests ordered by the state to fulfill federal grant obligations on teacher evaluations and by districts to keep pace with the new standards," The Times reported.

The pushback against overtesting is widespread and policymakers are beginning to respond. A key voice in this response is Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of Great City Schools, which represents 67 urban school systems. “Testing is an important part of education, and of life,” Casserly told the Washington Post. “But it’s time that we step back and see if the tail is wagging the dog.”

One of the best indicators of a shifting zeitgeist may be the position of former president Bill Clinton. "I think doing one [test] in elementary school, one in the end of middle school and one before the end of high school is quite enough if you do it right," Clinton said in an October speech.

"Not really," retorted Charles Barone at the Democrats for Education Reform website. "The ability of states to do the type of charter oversight Clinton called for will be severely hampered if they have to wait 3-4 years to see whether individual students are making adequate progress."

"The period between 3rd and 8th grades is especially critical," Barone wrote. "Missing a year or two of monitoring student progress could mean standing idly by while students attending a failing school (traditional or charter) fall increasingly, and more irretrievably, behind instead of intervening in a timely fashion to get students out of a bad school and into a good one."

Proponents of the testing system argue that it was only with the advent of nationwide standardized testing that the achievement gap between whites and Asians on the one hand and Latinos and black students on the other was laid bare. Reforms designed to close that gap are not possible without measuring it, they argue.

“We should always be conscious we still have a country and a society that is rife with injustices,” John White, Louisiana’s superintendent of education, told the Washington Post. “We must commit to an annual measurement of our delivery of an education so we can lay bare the honest truth as to whether we’re succeeding in educating every child.”

Email: eschulzke@desnews.com
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
93cbd7a5475cccd1cee701424125d3abaa9b4beaa58d3663208f656cbbbd7661
A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
Herb Scribner
Deseret News
Published: Aug 13, 2018, 1:39 PM
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.