How Test Obsession is Killing Education

[eridani]

http://www.nationofchange.org/how-test-obsession-killing-education-1380722590
In a recent dialogue published in Education Week, two authorities on education testing point to a potential way out of this mess.

One expert, Bob Linn, warns, “Raising the stakes for our test-based accountability systems so that there will be consequences for individual teachers will make matters even worse. Cheating scandals will blossom. I think this annual testing is unnecessary and is a big part of the problem. What we should be doing is testing at two key points along the way in grades K-8, and then in high school using end-of-course tests.”

Another, Howard Everson, bemoans, “The multiple-choice paradigm first used in WWI and eventually used to satisfy the NCLB requirements has proven to be quite brittle, especially when applied in every grade 3-8 and used to make growth assumptions. The quick and widespread adoption of multiple-choice testing was in hindsight a big mistake for this country, but – now – states will tell you it is all they can afford.”

No one, however, in a leadership position seems to be taking this advice.

In the meantime, accountability-crazed “reformers” believing that policy can focus solely on these numeric “outcomes” are taking the nation’s schools – and the children inside them – over a cliff.

As the country continues to veer toward the precipice, the first order of business is to shout, “Stop.”

[chervilant]

1. The "education authority" I prefer

is Sir Ken Robinson.

While the corporate megalomaniacs remain invested in an education paradigm that predominantly produces factory fodder and service industry drones, it's highly unlikely that we educators can effect significant change.