Testing: The Circular Argument
This morning, the indispensable Mercedes Schneider takes us on a trip to Massachusetts, where profiteers have captured many of the positions of power in the education world.
Much has been said about commissioner Mitchell Chester, who heads up the fast-evaporating PARCC test consortium, but who will also recommend to the state what Big Standardized Test they will use. This is pretty much like having the owner of a Ford dealership decide what kind of cars should be used for your municipal fleet.
But I was also struck by Schneider's look at Harvard University's EdLab, which appears to be nothing more than a college based reformy thinky tank set to cook up policy recommendations for the privatizers and profiteers while using the Harvard banner as a cover. You can read the whole thing at her blog.
But I was particularly struck by this quote from Roland Fryer, the economics guy who was speed-installed as a professor to head up EdLab. He's talking (back in 2012) about his belief that there should be a two-tier testing system:
I haven’t figured out why no one has tried a two-tiered system for standardized testing. So, I live in Concord, Massachusetts which is a wonderful suburb of Boston — my wife and I just moved there — and I actually don’t want a lot of standardized testing in Concord because it will crowd out my kids CURMUDGUCATION: Testing: The Circular Argument: