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Are Standardized Tests Challenging Academic Rigor?

By Dr. Conrad Lotze VP & Dean, School of Education at American Public University This year, millions of school-aged children will spend multiple hours at school taking standardized tests. Stop and think about that for a minute. Now ask yourself some questions: What are the tests designed to measure? Who decides what content gets tested? How much time do students and their teachers spend specifically preparing for those tests?

Why Educators “Teach to the Test”

By Dr. Amy Burkman Program Director, M.Ed. in Administration and Supervision, American Public University When I am in a social setting and people find out what I do for a living, there is always at least one person who feels the need to ask me why teachers always teach to the test. At this point, my husband always takes a step back and begins eyeing the person who asked the question with pity.

A Liberal Arts Education for the 21st Century

By Everett Corum, Ph.D. Director of Humanities, Philosophy, Religion, and World Languages Programs at American Public University “No man ever steps into the same river twice,” is one of the more famous statements of the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Let the idea of a university, John Henry Newman’s “school of universal learning,” be that river and one suddenly becomes aware of the reason for the upheaval and challenges facing the academy in the 21st Century.