Blame the Tests
by E. D. Hirsch, Jr.
In Praise of Samuel Messick 1931–1998, Part III
The chief practical impact of NCLB has been its principle of accountability. Adequate progress, the law stated, must be determined by test scores in reading and math.
Now, a decade later, the result of the law, as many have complained, has been a narrowing of the school curriculum—with a neglect of the arts and humanities, and even of science and civics, all sacrificed on the altar of tests—and, paradoxically, without any substantial progress nationwide on the tests themselves. It is hard to decide whether to call NCLB a disaster or a catastrophe.
But I disagree with those who blame this failure on the accountability principle of NCLB. The law did not specify what tests in reading and math the schools were to use. If the schools had responded with valid tests—defined by Messick as tests which have a