A parent recently wrote an article in the New York Times explaining why he planned to file a Freedom of Information Act suit to demand the release of all test questions.
He is right. Now that the tests have assumed so much importance, the public has a right to know what they were asked.
Now that the tests have such a decisive effect on so many people’s lives, the public has a right to know.
Based on these tests, students will be promoted or will fail.
Based on these tests, students will get into the college of their choice, or will not.
Based on these tests, some teachers will get a bonus, and others will be fired.
Based on these tests, some schools will be closed.
Based on these tests, lives will be changed for better or worse.
Who pays for the tests? The public.
Who is affected by the tests? The public.
Who has a right to know what was asked? The public.
Who has a right to know how many pineapples are on the test? The public.
Who has a right to know how many questions are stupid? The public.
Who has a right to know if there are questions with multiple answers or no answer? The public.
If a person accused of a crime has a right to confront their accuser and hear the evidence, why shouldn’t test-takers have the right to know whether the tests that shaped their fate are reasonable?
Publish them. Let everyone see what is on them. Publishers can write new test questions or they can create a database of released test questions so large that students can dip into them for test preparation.
Or, someday we may regain our wits, and decide to move on to far better forms of assessment, where students actually demonstrate what they know and can do instead of picking a bubble.
Unless, of course, we have become so dumbed down by decades of bubble testing that we can no longer think differently.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
[…] now she tweeted about a New York Times article and the content sent me a-spinning again. It referenced the inadequacies in testing. You see, when […]
Tell ’em to get the lead out, Diane.
To quote one of my 7th Grade students who has a learning disability …” All this test does is tell my parents everything I suck at.” Is that the message we want to send?
To quote one of my 7th Grade students who has a learning disability …”All this test proves is that I suck at reading. Everyone already knows that” I wish that John King and the Board of Regents could recognize what these tests are doing to the youth of New York State.
It’s not only the stupid questions. The way they are scored is surreal. Read at http://www.lolacrabapple.wordpress.com the blogpost about “The Machine” and the one about the crickets. If it weren’t so serious from so many perspectives, it would be funny.
As always, thank you, Diane.
Way to go Parent! I love this Post! Of course this will mean they will have to design a new test each year – the question is…Will this be more or less money for the test designers?
K., why do we need these very costly standardized tests at all when they eat up so many resources (which could be used in so many better ways)?? Did you know that Finland uses almost NO standardized tests. Teachers there are at least as respected as doctors. (Would you insist that every person have their blood drawn and be tested for high cholesterol or anything else and then punish the doctors for every patient whose results were outside acceptable range? It would be a little absurd, right…?) How did we ever get all the way to the moon without all this standardized testing? How did we get into the information age without it?
Teachers in Finland create their own (meaningful) assessments in the classroom (not restricted to multiple-choice tests); they maintain open meaningful lines of communication with students’ families; and parents talk to their children. The big difference between the US and Finland is that they have a *very* low rate of poverty, while poverty in the US is higher than any other industrialized country (about 22%). Control for poverty and our students score at or near the top on those international tests.
Marion, I was being sarcastic. These standardized tests tend to use the same questions over and over…if they were forced to release the questions to the public then students would only need to memorize those particular answers – all students could pass with 100%…this would be a dilemma for the test takers – How would they be able to continue making money on these tests with test prep materials, curriculum, interventions, etc.?
In other words, I was being sarcastic towards those benefiting from them with power and money. Teachers, students and society do NOT benefit – I am very much against standardized testing. These tests create undue anxiety for my students and enforce my students’ inner feelings of “stupid”. My students need to be supported for their strengths. They need to have a love of learning fostered!
As far as I am concerned, the “powers of be” can shove those tests where sun don’t shine!