Oktay Baysal, dean of the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology, joined others involved in local education to discuss the role of standardized testing on National Public Radio's HearSay with Cathy Lewis.
The guests, including Norfolk Public Schools' Dr. Lisa Corbin and Monty Neal of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, of the Cathy Lewis lunchtime program took on the hotly debated topic of Standards of Learning testing with preference to Hampton Roads area schools. Topics discussed included the overall role of this manner of testing as well as how the tests have shaped schools, students and educators. Dean Baysal, while reasoning that the need for a standardized method of evaluating students is necessary, the SOL tests are perhaps a work in progress to this end.
HearSay is a locally produced, public affairs radio call-in program that discusses issues important to Hampton Roads. Full audio from the episode featuring Dean Baysal can be found at http://podcasts.whro.org/hearsay/podcast.xml under the heading "A New Standard for Testing?."