The Billion-Dollar Problem in Education | Tanishia Lavette Williams | TED

Standardized testing is deeply woven into the fabric of US education, but does it foster genuine learning? Educator Tanishia Lavette Williams sheds light on the racial biases, financial costs and limited effectiveness of this kind of testing - calling for a fundamental shift to prioritize teacher-led instruction and empower students.
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• The Billion-Dollar Pro...
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[@ronoldcross8189]

Teach students to think, not to be robots.

[@DS-pe8tt]

I was an elementary school teacher and standardized tests forced teachers teach to test. That's not teaching. I'm more hands-on and group learning and peer tutoring and by ability.

[@aliciaoglesby5294]

I was a site supervisor for years and I've seen students break down before the SATs and after the test. Students walk out and give up. Students visibly appear stressed and discouraged. For years.... years, I've done this. Thankful my school is moving away from College Board!

[@andycordy5190]

Having been a fifth grade teacher, employing state ratified testing, I totally agree with the sentiments expressed here. It was very clear to us that the principle objective of the test was to be able to judge the performance of teachers not the educational outcome for the student. Although it is an expensive process, it's way cheaper than professional in service assessments.

[@alexhigginbotham8635]

900 billion dollars for war? Yes. 1 billion dollars for education? Of course not! We don't want people smart enough to question the system.

[@wuwu6653]

😊😊😊😊😊😊qq

[@SpikeTheSpiker]

Fantastic public speaker.

[@matthewjay660]

👨🏻‍🏫🇫🇷I was a French* teacher, an ELECTIVE teacher, and I had to "support" standardized English* tests! I'm certified to teach FRENCH, not English, yet I have to "support" ENGLISH?!? In several interviews for the FRENCH position, I was often asked the question, "How are you going to support the English standardized test?" I stopped teaching after 11 years of this nonsense. 🙋🏻‍♂️ We're testing our kids to ☠️.

[@nothinginteresting1662]

As a continuation, I love it when what I do actually makes a positive impact on people rather than just making money for a profit-first company. And the sad part is, this is what most educational training is about. Becoming useful resources to corporates than being independent thinkers and doers.

[@mauricecarreno82]

Very articulated speaker ❤

[@amberawusah9757]

They all are. its a Ted Talk.

[@valeriesmith9408]

As a parent, I fought standardized tests, but our "decision makers" were fully partnered with private testing companies. They were not the least bit interested in debating.

[@marcib5663]

Brilliant presentation. She is a great speaker.

[@ytubeanon]

I admit I don't get it, if it's up to teachers to come up with custom non-standardized tests for multiple or every student, that's exponentially more work for the teacher, and how do you clearly gauge if the student succeeds or fails after giving them a participation trophy for trying?

[@shouldigetit]

Totally agree with you Riaz. There is a purpose to standardized testing.

[@FlyingDwarfman]

The critiques in this presentation and others for decades have been 1. That the standardized tests are weak (ie: don't measure the actually necessary skills) 2. Used as the all-encompassing, only measure for student "success" 3. Also used as the all-encompassing, only measure for teacher "success" 4. Heavily biased in favor of a class of people who don't need more biases in their favor and 5. Really, really easy to cheat (ie: the elite minority mentioned above can directly and indirectly buy higher scores) Not once have I even heard of the argument that it should be "...up to teachers to come up with custom non-standardized tests for multiple or every student..." That's a straw-man argument. Globally and historically, school systems that push more standardizing tests have much less class mobility.

[@anthonyjasi7528]

“We don’t have to test every single child the same exact way, particularly if that way does not bring out that child’s gifts or skills” Preach sister 🙏

[@matthewjay660]

Right? There are different types of intelligence: Linguistic, Musical, Kinesthetic, plus 6 more types .

[@SeegerInstitute]

Thank you

[@jean-charlesfidinde8131]

Greaaaat speaker

[@ronoldcross8189]

How radical. Students are not product. Students are thinking persons.❤

[@academicpandemic]

The problem begins with the assumption that the powers-that-be consider humanity's children to be tomorrow's leaders; it conflicts to harshly with their internalized version of reality that they'll live forever and forever be in charge. Our children got left behind by the very monsters who sold you the notion that they wouldn't be.

[@lakeishamcfall4833]

Teach it !

[@soakingbook]

Yes, and let's take out the 40-yard dash when we're recruiting students to play football while we're at it.

[@xandercorp6175]

The purpose of standardizes tests isn't to teach, but to test. Teaching is the teacher's job. Putting knowledge to work isn't "getting in the way" of learning, it's applying it. Education needs to be re-tooled, yes - but from the bottom, not from the top. Stop using our kids as guinea pigs, creating entire generations that are illiterate and worse. Not everyone has the time to undo all of public education's mistakes and teach their kid from the ground up. Stop seeding our kids with flawed mental models and institutionalized incompetence.

[@Icdianaa]

Nice

[@tjtampa214]

Great delivery and great ideas! 💜

[@mr8966]

🙏🏻

[@psikeyhackr6914]

How much would it cost to produce a K-12 National Recommended Reading List? The majority of books are mediocre to crap. So if school is mediocre teachers using mediocre books couldn't an excellent book list be better? *The Tyranny of Words* (1938) by Stuart Chase George Orwell mentioned Chase in an essay on politics. Chase published the book, *A New Deal* shortly before FDR's famous speech. He was a member of FDR's brain trust. There is lots of old sci-fi free on the Internet now: *Little Fuzzy* by H. Beam Piper *The Servant Problem* by Robert F. Young *Black Man's Burden* & *Border, Breed nor Birth* by Mack Reynolds *Omnilingual* by H Beam Piper *Deathworld* by Harry Harrison *The Status Civilization* by Robert Sheckley

[@unlimitedbolaji]

❤❤

[@user-zd5ei7sh5c]

Great information ❤❤❤

[@davidzapen8974]

How about gauging why children arrive at school without breakfast or sleep or central air-conditioning?

[@bobert8618]

They have to bring all three?

[@MiltonBjorn]

Dr. Paradigm.

[@mariaantoniettamontella9173]

finally

[@ericswain4177]

The Problem with Education is That it is a "OUTDATED" Paradigm !

[@ThizzMarley]

“Testing and labeling” huh what do u call DEI …”label and don’t test “

[@Beautyaddixion]

Pearson. Billion dollar company thats owns public ed.

[@NT-mh3ij]

A sliding scale or schedule for raising or lowering taxes, wages, prices, automatically in accordance with fluctuations in economic conditions... Malthusianism... A + B Theorem... The mercantile system, that based on the old economic theory that money is wealth and that the object of trade is to export goods at highest price - our occuluding devolution.

[@user-gi7yu7uv6r]

Best public speaker, very confident, enthusiastic and lively.

[@gtrdxz]

Speaks a little slow

[@jmslade7]

💜❤️🖤💚💛💜

[@ashasawyers8482]

Best Tedtalk I have ever heard.

[@finishstro]

I hope all americans how the situation got I emphy this place fill in it your self. how this teacher became your ID in this centry.

[@Praisethesunson]

The problem with U.S education is that it's funded along racial and economic caste lines.

[@gtrdxz]

No.

[@FlyingDwarfman]

@@gtrdxzYes, actually. The remnants of red-lining are that property values are *STILL* widely determined by that system. What determines local school quality more than anything else in America? Local property taxes. In other words, people growing up in historically "undesirable" (ie: not white and/ or not rich) neighborhoods are denied the same quality of schooling because of reasons far beyond their own power.

[@user-vd8xp4kk2c]

rob

[@user-vd8xp4kk2c]

ratro

[@carnation969]

I clicked on this so fast!

[@ToddMcLeod-personal]

Structural racism and ethnocentric self-absorption run deep. Thank you for your work to bring awareness to this and create more equity and richness in the world. Your presentation was great.

[@meanderinoranges]

School choice is the answer. Not more testing, regulation, bureaucracy, and administration.

[@FlyingDwarfman]

No, it is not. "School choice" is a dog-whistle (whether you personally choose to recognize it as such) for further re-segregation of our schools.

[@user-be8wz3hw3b]

The reason white men are overrepresented in history is because there were more white men in power at the time

[@test19698]

If you can assign your educational content in history to male and female, either your evaluation system is simply nonsense or your educational content is garbage. The number of nullpoints is far too low. So lessons are just a presentation of famous people without context or the evaluation system is nonsense.

[@bendershome4discountorphan859]

If we smarten them back up they will realize we are turds

[@567Kriss]

I was expecting this to teach how be better at math and English but all of this turned into racial history. Not exactly sure how incorporating more black history helps math and English

[@thomasesther3039]

Yay, first viewer

[@fabianweber6727]

So judging from the comment section, she has some good ideas and is a racist. nobody's perfect i guess.

[@zakw4540]

2 minutes in and she hasn't said anything useful yet. I couldn't bear to listen to her any further.

[@thetruenolan6655]

Painful to listen to. She has no idea, zero, what it takes to keep a country functioning, to keep the electricity flowing, to keep the water and sanitation working. Because she does not understand what is needed, she does not understand why we need to differentiate between students who can think deeply, and students who cannot. She thinks that the tests are given as a way to keep POC under represented. Here's the truth. Africans underperform academically in every nation on earth. Her solution? Stop testing. Stop comparing. If we don't have scores there won't be a difference.

[@marcelikubik9521]

Your comment inspired me to try! 2,5 minutes (2x speed) and still nothing except "We have been doing standardized testing for a long time". If somebody uses 2,5 minutes out of 15 to say ONE useful sentence it's time wasting. I remember TEDs when the first sentence/idea was jaw-dropping and then it got only better. AI "thinking" skills are very close to human and unfortunatelly we are beginning to match AI in this regard - everything seems to be more and more stupid recently.

[@scribbler60]

There was a day, not too long ago, that TED speakers were leaders in their fields. Sadly, TED has devolved into a celebration of mediocrity. This talk is just the most recent example. Unsubscribed.

[@Smokabowlski]

If you can only focus on yourself and what you can do instead of trying to blame others

[@ossiedunstan4419]

The major problem is rubbish channels on KZbin like TED, almost as anti educational as kent hovinds channel.

[@FairyWasabi]

Standardized testing is deeply woven into the fabric of US education, but does it foster genuine learning? Tanishia sheds light on financial costs and limited effectiveness of this kind of testing, advocating for a shift towards teacher-led instruction and student empowerment. But you lost me with your racist thinking... The concept of race is not a scientific matter but a social construct. This means that it has been created and defined by society rather than by any biological or genetic basis. Imagine an educator not being all that educated, but don't stress, doll-we're all allowed some mistakes! Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.". This powerful statement encapsulates the essence of equality and the rejection of judging individuals based on superficial characteristics. When someone subscribes to the idea of defining individuals by their skin color, it undermines the progress towards a more inclusive and equitable society. It perpetuates division and ignores the rich diversity of experiences and identities that make up humanity. By subscribing to these ideas moves away from this vision of vision of equality. It is essential to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every individual, regardless of race or ethnicity. Embracing diversity and understanding that we are all unique individuals with varied experiences enriches our society and strengthens our communities.

[@afghanherat6140]

This is one of the bist video that i see in my life thank you lady ❣️🤍💞💖💘💛❣️❣️🩷🩶🩶🩵💔💔🩷❣️❣️❣️💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💓💔💔💔💔💔💛💛💛💘💖

[@Smokabowlski]

I hate to say what I was right.... within 2 minutes she went right to the race card... If they said this about Polish people, I would be offended as a Polish person.. It's not me, it's society.

[@Smokabowlski]

Ironically, enough, I'm predisposed to think that this is all about why black peopaul have everything worse for them. It is snowing in the caribbean but only on black people right now