Mette co-authors op-ed for AJC.com education blog

Ian Mette, associate professor of educational leadership, co-wrote an opinion piece for the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Get Schooled education blog titled, “A generation endured test-centric schooling? Did it help?” The piece was co-authored with Carl Glickman, professor emeritus of education at the University of Georgia. Mette and Glickman write that school reform efforts aimed at gathering more data through testing were supposed to “identify discrepancies across groups, specifically among racial and socioeconomic demographics.” However, two decades later, they question whether society and schools are really better off. “Sadly, the ability to debate openly and honestly about issues of social justice, human rights, the value of peer-reviewed science, and the philosophical differences we have based on our own racial and cultural backgrounds is clearly under attack in our politics and our society at large,” Mette and Glickman say. They argue that schools have an important role to play in building a stronger democracy. “Decentralizing schools and empowering them to move away from testing regiments would allow schools to reengage with the needs of their communities, which come at a critical time based on the social era we are experiencing,” they write.