Ohio Governor Promotes Creativity Over Testing

Governor Ted Strickland (D) of Ohio hosted a three-day summit in Columbus recently to promote a new classroom environment—one that is more adaptable and less focused on high-stakes testing—reports Catherine Candisky of The Columbus Dispatch. The system is one that the governor believes will help Ohio graduates succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy. The Governor's Institute for Creativity & Innovation in Education will bring teachers and education advocates together to share ideas and come up with new ones.

"It is an attempt…to talk about how we can have a system of education that does in fact encourage and foster creativity and innovation," Strickland said.

"Because we have become scared and frightened that we have fallen behind, there has been a tendency to emphasize sameness in curriculum. We are trying to force some students into a mold, and we perhaps neglect to appreciate or understand the full array of abilities and potentials that exist within a student."

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