The Absurdity of Standardized Testing: Caught Between Prediction and Assessment
Standardized testing is truly absurd.
You take a test to determine what you’ve learned and that will in turn predict what you will be able to learn in the future.
We hardly ever do this anywhere else in life.
We don’t measure babies’ leg muscles to predict whether they’re ready to walk. We let them do what they do, possibly with some encouragement and positive models of locomotion, and they do it.
There are cognitive and developmental benchmarks we look for, and if children don’t hit them, we provide help. But no further prediction is necessary – certainly not based on artificial markers put together by corporate interests.
In most situations, predictions are superfluous. We just assume that everyone can learn if they so desire – unless something happens to make us think otherwise. And CONTINUE READING: The Absurdity of Standardized Testing: Caught Between Prediction and Assessment | gadflyonthewallblog