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ERIC Number: EJ874474
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 17
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1557-2870
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
"Lake Woebegone," Twenty Years Later
Cannell, John Jacob
Third Education Group Review, v2 n1 2006
Almost 20 years ago, the author wrote--and then privately published--the two "Lake Woebegone" reports, named after Garrison Keillor's mythical Minnesota town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." The first "Lake Woebegone" report documented that all 50 states were testing above the national average in elementary achievement and concluded the testing infrastructure in America's public schools was corrupt. The second report delineated the systematic and pervasive ways that American educators cheat on standardized achievement tests. Both reports received widespread national publicity, were extensively discussed in academic journals, and helped spur the testing reform movement. In 1991, five years after he began, the author abruptly left the testing reform movement. This paper discusses how he learned about "Lake Woebegone" testing, the reason why he left the testing reform movement, and his observations on where testing is today.
Third Education Group. http://www.tegr.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A