What should be done about the quality and quantity of standardized testing in U.S. schools? We touched on the subject in
Freakonomics, but only insofar as the introduction of high-stakes testing altered the incentives at play — including the incentives for some teachers, who were found to cheat in order to cover up the poor performance of their students (which, obviously, also indicates the poor performance of the teachers).
...
So what should be done? We gathered a group of testing afficionados —
W. James Popham, Robert Zemsky, Thomas Toch, Monty Neill, and Gaston Caperton — and put to them the following questions:
Should there be less standardized testing in the current school system, or more? Should all schools, including colleges, institute exit exams?
W. James Popham, author of
The Truth About Testing: An Educator’s Call to Action and
America’s Failing Schools:
Standardized tests have much in common with French fries. Both of them differ in composition as well as quality. French fries are available in numerous incarnations, including straight, curly, skins-on, skins-off, and, in recent years, with sweet potatoes. Regarding quality, of course, the taste of French fries can range substantially — from sublime to soggy. It’s really the same with standardized tests.
Robert Zemsky, professor and chair of the
Learning Alliance at the University of Pennsylvania, and former member of the
Spellings Commission:
Discussing testing is roughly akin to planning a visit to the dentist — it’s all about remembered pain. No one really likes to be tested. And yet high-stakes testing — already a key element in the reform of primary and secondary education — has become a standard feature of the “let’s reform higher education” industry.
Thomas Toch, co-director of
Education Sector, a Washington, D.C., think tank:
There’s a lot of standardized testing in public education. Elementary, middle, and high school students are taking some 56 million reading, math, and science tests this year just to comply with the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act, and many states and school systems layer a lot of other standardized tests on top of that.
Monty Neill, executive director of
FairTest:
The No Child Left Behind law has had one clear accomplishment: it has given a black eye to education policies based on the overuse of standardized testing.
NCLB’s testing mandates have flooded American classrooms with millions of additional tests. At the same time, the rate of learning improvement has actually slowed, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Gaston Caperton, president of
The College Board:
The quantity of testing is less important than the quality of testing. This is where the SAT excels. In an era of rampant grade inflation, the SAT offers students the most level playing field available to demonstrate their knowledge of core material. The SAT, in combination with the grade point average, provides students, parents and admissions counselors with the best predictor of academic success in college.
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