standardized testing debate
Standardized testing debate. Each person makes faults, including those who score standardized tests! In New York a few years back, thousands of students were even denied a summer trip because of misunderstand test scores. Are we relying too greatly on flawed tests to make resolutions about our kids' education? Here's what the experts have to say.
Why Standardized Testing Works
PAUL REVILLE (proponent of standardized testing) Lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Chairman of the Massachusetts Education Reform Review Commission
Q. Should parents -- not only those in New York, but elsewhere -- have second thoughts about standardized tests based on such a colossal error?
A. My reaction to that is to ask, because someone trips and falls on the way to the grocery store, should we stop going to the grocery store? People do need to be cautious, but we do need to keep testing.
Q. Are you concerned about relying too heavily on test results to measure a child's school performance?
A. We need to be making sure there are checks and balances. Test results shouldn't be used exclusively to draw the line. But the question of occasional errors shouldn't deter us from the goal of raising standards; at the same time we're in an interim, transitional period (moving from social promotion to test-based requirements for promotion.)
Q. So you're saying we need to proceed with caution.
A. If we're not careful, we're going to have a train wreck. If the failure rates (on standardized tests) are astronomical, the political structure won't tolerate it, and then the exams and standards get scuttled. That could also happen if you throw out the system on the basis of testing errors.
Q. But what about the kids in New York who lost their summer vacation?
A. I don't get too upset. It's not a punishment -- it's an extension of goods and services by the government. But our culture tends to see education as punishment.
standardized testing debate
