Testing of the Wrong Kind: Too Little

¶ … Testing of the Wrong Kind: Too Little of the Right Kind...," author Paul E. Barton looks at the "testing enterprise" which has assumed greater prominence in K-12 education during the last 20 years. However, Barton believes that the bulk of this testing is of "the wrong kind," meaning tests are seen as a means of reform. When students seem to be failing in basic areas such as mathematics, spelling or geography, the gut reaction is often to institute more rigorous testing.

Such tests are designed to assess student performance and to weed out the students who do not make the grade. Barton makes the distinction between the "right kind" and the "wrong kind" of testing. In these "wrong kinds" of tests, Barton argues that the tests themselves have become tools of reform, rather than measures to assess whether reforms are working. Furthermore, Barton states that most standardized tests do not go beyond multiple-choice killings. These tests do not adequately measure a student's ability to synthesize concepts to their own answers.

Such "wrong kinds" of standardized tests also do not adequately measure what schools teach. One of the negative effects of these "wrong kinds" of tests is a practice called "teaching to the test." Instead of teaching a "wholistic" education that would best provide children with an educational foundation, many teachers focus on material that they are told would appear in tests. Ideally, standardized tests measure student performance and identify areas wherein improvements are needed. However, instruction in schools is increasingly becoming synonymous with preparation for the standardized test.

Increasingly, doing well on such tests are becoming the object of education, in various levels of education. However, Barton also sees improvement on the horizon. In the 1990s, he observed a greater emphasis on the content of the tests themselves. The next step, states the author, is to develop "performance standards" to judge how well students master the content. One of Barton's suggestions is to switch from the "intrusive" way standardized tests are administered to all students.

Rather, the author suggests a sample-based approach to assessment, testing only a wide sampling of students. This would cut down on expense of administering and grading the tests, as well as cutting down on the intrusive nature of tests. Like Barton, I agree that standardized testing gives rise to the practice of "teaching to the test." This approach is further tied to financial issues, since schools that have a high failure rate can face budgetary slashes or even closure.

Teachers with a high rate of failing students also face penalties, as student failure in standardized tests could be attributed to poor teacher performance. These problems make it even more urgent to create a triad of "content/assessment/performance" tests that would focus more on individual educational achievement. This triad.