Something's Wrong With Both Standardized Tests And The 'Opt-Out' Movement
All of these reports about the “opt-out movement”—where parents choose not to have their children take the federally mandated standardized tests—are a bit disturbing. The debate seems to have spiraled out of control. We all seem caught in a polarized narrative, a kind of hopeless argument that has more to do with some of the inherent philosophical tensions of modern life than it does with issues of education. Big questions just like the one’s we’re grappling with when it comes to standardized testing actually appear in many areas of our modern lives.
One of the hardest things about living in a hyper-networked world is that we are all constantly trying to figure out how to maintain our individuality despite the ever increasing convenience of conformity. You can see this tension as our media conglomerates reduce human viewers to groups of niche demographics. The tension is in the produce section of our grocery stores thanks to a food supply infrastructure that provides consistent inexpensive mangoes—bruise resistant, but not uniquely flavorful—even in a snow storm. And the tension builds as we browse the well-stocked shelves of our big box retailers which look more or less identically fashionable no matter where in the country you find them. The fact is that with the advantages of egalitarian ubiquity necessarily comes a sacrifice of variety, of regional or local distinction.
When it comes to education, we live at a time when more people have access to formal education than ever before in human history. That means they also have access to an unprecedented and ever-increasing degree of autonomy and freedom. But unfortunately, just like all the other gifts of the industrial world, this opportunity simultaneously brings with it a certain degree of homogeneity and standardization. This is the great paradox of modernity: the more access we get to individuality, the more limited the possibilities for expression.
If we consider standardized testing in schools, it is clear to me that many folks get caught up in the fire of the debate and lose the ability to see both sides of the story clearly. Those who take an extreme anti-testing position are well meaning. They want to protect children’s individuality. They want to shield them from unnecessary anxiety. They want to protect valuable learning time. They want to spare children the indignity of punching chads and filling in circles. And they want to empower young people by providing them with life-long experiential learning skills.
But some of these critics also seem to forget that those who advocate for measured accountability are also well meaning. The intention behind the assessment mandated by No Child Left Behind was to make sure that previously overlooked children were accounted for—it was literally an acknowledgment that these children count—it required that underprivileged individuals not be hidden in the shadows, that their progress be tracked and their right to learn protected by the federal government. Federally mandated standardized testing was born from a desire to guarantee the right to individuality and autonomy across socio-economic bounds. When seen from a desk of a federal bureaucrat, standardized tests make more children stand out. When seen from the desk-chair of a classroom pupil, children are robbed of the individuality that comes from differentiated instruction.
Of course, everyone I’ve ever talked to—parents, students, teachers, administrators, politicians, heads of state—agree that the current tests are insufficient indicators of whole child development. They agree that the very practice of comparatively and competitively evaluating students is probably not in kids’ best interest. And they know that the educational practices which have exalted standardized tests to their current high-stakes stature—in which a single score has the ability to shape an individual’s future—is ethically and morally deplorable. But these are problems with the way testing data is used, not with assessment in itself.
Ultimately, there’s no way for the Federal Department of Education to equitably serve the 50 million students who attend public schools in the United States without some sort of assessment data. But do the current tests provide meaningful data? The critics say no. The advocates point out that all data is ultimately incomplete, but that doesn’t make it worthless.Something's Wrong With Both Standardized Tests And The 'Opt-Out' Movement - Forbes:
