A parent in Texas wrote to say that she couldn’t understand why the state was paying Pearson $100 million a year while laying off teachers. She’s right. This is crazy. She pointed out that in addition to the direct cost of the state testing, schools and districts now had to pay people whose sole job is the care and feeding of the testing monster. One district is hiring a testing coordinator for each of its five high schools, More money diverted from the classroom. At the same time the cost of testing grows, the budget for public education shrinks.
She sent me this article from an Austin newspaper: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/educators-parents-fight-testing-system. Sandy Kress, who was the architect of NCLB and is now a lobbyist for Pearson, strongly defended the testing system, saying that young people would be closed out of good jobs if they didn’t take all those tests.
Now, be it noted that this claim is utterly false. Students in independent schools (such as the one that Kress’ own children attend) do not take all those tests and they presumably will not be shut out of the good jobs in the future. http://jasonstanford.org/2012/05/the-lone-staar-rebellion/
Furthermore, there is no reason to assert that taking state tests prepares anyone for good jobs in the future. Where is the logical connection? How does testing prepare you to get a better job? The testing regime now in force penalizes students who exhibit imagination or divergent thinking. Entire generations of Americans have gotten good jobs without being subjected to test prep and annual high-stakes testing.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2009/11/art5full.pdf, p. 88), most new jobs will not require a college degree.
And where is the evidence that taking all those state tests is the best way to prepare for college? Again, none of the children who attend elite independent schools take those tests and they seem to have a high rate of success in gaining admission to selective colleges and universities.
Really, the test salespeople and lobbyists for the testing industry have sold the American people a bill of goods. Either we buy their product, and more of it, and pay them for prep materials, and pay them for test security, and pay test coordinators, or no one will get a good job in the future.
Don’t believe it.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The testing sales people and lobbyists have also sold a useless bill of goods on testing teachers to the politicians and policy makers. Elementary teachers in Connecticut take 4 standardized tests to becomes certified. There is no data what so ever to indicate that this has led to higher test scores for children. Also testing company profits have gone through the roof.
Thank you Dr. Ravitch for reminding us the truth is about testing is it diverts money from services to children.
Thank you,
Jesse Turner
Children Are More Than Test Scores
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other than taking more standardized tests, what is unquestionably true is that the likes of Sandy Cress would be closed out of good jobs – or, in any case, extremely lucrative jobs—if our children were not forced to take their tests from sea to shining sea. And, of course the manic implementation of the wholly untested Common Cure Curriculum will generate ever more tests. This too bodes very, very well for the job prospects of the Sandy Cress’s of the world, few in number though they may be.
As for our children I am reminded everyday of the Biblical figure of Moloch, sang of by Allen Ginsberg in “Howl”; the Moloch who demanded obeisance in the form of the sacrifice of the very young.
The good news is that if the ed reformers triumph, it is unlikely future generations will be troubled by such unpleasant figures as Moloch because they won’t know who they are and even if they did, they would have been conditioned to pay them as much mind as, say, the tooth fairy or the Easter bunny. To some degree this would be because some guy named David Coleman (who has no teaching experience whatsoever and works with Michelle Rhee) has decided and decreed that something called “informational “ texts are of far greater relevance to students than mere poetry, which after all, is merely one of the highest and most profound expressions of the human imagination.
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While it is sheer nonsense to claim that standardized tests prepare students for anything more than taking more standardized tests, what is unquestionably true is that the likes of Sandy Cress would be closed out of good jobs – or, in any case, extremely lucrative jobs—if our children were not forced to take their tests from sea to shining sea. And, of course the manic implementation of the wholly untested Common Cure Curriculum will generate ever more tests. This too bodes very, very well for the job prospects of the Sandy Cress’s of the world, few in number though they may be.
As for our children I am reminded everyday of the Biblical figure of Moloch, sang of by Allen Ginsberg in “Howl”; the Moloch who demanded obeisance in the form of the sacrifice of the very young.
The good news is that it is unlikely future generations will be troubled by such unpleasant figures as Moloch as some guy named David Coleman (who has no teaching experience whatsoever and works with Michelle Rhee) has decided and decreed that something called “informational “ texts are of far greater relevance to students than mere poetry, which after all, is merely one of the highest and most profound expressions of the human imagination.
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All I know is as a teacher who came back after 7 years of leave, I have never seen such poorly-prepared students. They are test-takers and that’s it. They are prepared for absolutely NOTHING – not a career and not college. The only thing they will be able to do is minimum wage work. Reading and writing textbooks have been thrown out as well as solid math curriculum and replaced by about 7 or 8 test prep workbooks. This is NOT education. Reformers know it. They just hope parents don’t figure it out.
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[…] Update: Diane Ravitch has continued the discussion on her blog. […]
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There is no question that the type of testing and the phenomenal cost associated with its use can be justified – at this point at least – ONLY by opportunities its scores provide for ranking, retribution, … I’m willing to believe the original planners believed it would identify opportunities to improve education – BUT that certainly was quickly abandoned as the politicians, lobbyists, and $$$-sucking private companies saw their selfish opportunities.
But let’s be honest. There ARE legitimate concerns about education that led to NCLB. The standardized tests will not / cannot honestly identify the issues and thus help with solutions. While many even most maybe teachers and schools are doing okay in facilitating learning, they along with the teachers and schools NOT doing a good job (AND WE ALL KNOW THESE EXIST) can and must get better in facilitating EFFECTIVE LEARNING. The model is so wrong for today’s needs …
I don’t think standardized testing will go away. Too many blood-suckers have their vested interests. BUT that doesn’t mean seeking changes to improve effective learning should be abandoned! It’s not about the local cultures or the resources entirely. Local Education Communities (my term) MUST work for improve with what’s available to optimize support of effective learning – AND THEY CAN AND WILL HAVE IMPACT!
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JCBJR–I encourage you to read one of Diane’s earlier posts:
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I believe I had read that posting and just read it again. I have absolutely no argument with any of the four points made there. However, I do believe there are issues in education needing improvement and there is always need for reflection / continuous improvement – AS WITH ALL FIELDS OF ENDEAVOR! Someone I quote often, Albert Einstein: “The important thing is to not stop questioning.” In my case, I happen to believe the industrial model of the early twentieth century must change. Quoting myself (I think): “It’s not change that’s required; it’s the openness to possible change if justified that’s required.”
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More great news from Texas and further proof that high test scores are the only definition of success!
Here’s the article:
http://www.statesman.com/news/education/several-austin-charters-at-top-of-nonprofit-groups-2365719.html
“That dedication to analyzing student data, giving students ongoing assessments and grouping students according to their needs paid off.”
The prize? St. Elmo Elementary has earned the coveted “Exemplary” status.
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What you identified in this article is crony capitalism. But unlike textbook capitalism it has to do more with Soviet style economy. The DOE – US and NYC – has little concern with education, student, teachers or parents. For them democracy is a menace that has to be eliminated. One way is to give people like Coleman the ability to decide for all of us and ‘burn’ literature – the Nazi party’s first action in 1933 was to eliminate books that were dangerous for they might have provoked thinking. Other way to eliminate democracy in education is handing billions of dollars to unaccountable tyrannies like Pearson who reign over the educational testing industrial complex.
Free handouts of public money, without consulting professionals – teachers, is crony capitalism from the same people who push entrepreneurship on all of us. Pearson don’t have to face much competition, or scrutiny.It seems that they are the kings of the education testing industrial complex and the government just gives them blank check for every new corporate gimmick they come up with, not to mention their total control of the testing factory.
Testing is a degrading, inaccurate, skewed method to solely evaluate by, but it serves the DOE mission of drilling rather then educating.Creating the new generation of anti-creatives, ignorant, dull, obeying, uncritical and conformist business people for Wall Street and Wall Mart. People who don’t know what literature is but see the world as a collection multiple choice question.On the way the very few are collecting enormous wealth. I wish the DOE would have been strict and tough with their private contractors as they are with real professionals – teachers.
Last, I might be able to provide an outsider perspective, for I was not educated in the US but in a place where multiple choice tests were almost NEVER used. Back then they were called ‘American’ tests to emphasize the lack of seriousness and low standards required from the test taker.
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