Now that I am retired, I might start posting again. Here's a letter I wrote just now to the NYT in response to their editorial on Betsy DeVos.
Dear Editor,
I continue to be amazed at our bedrock assumption that test scores
are a measure of learning despite the fact that they can never be so.
During
the first 16 years after graduating from college, I taught high school
history at Groton, and then at three NYC independent schools - was fired
three times and then blacklisted, so I moved to San Francisco and got
my PhD in education. I then became a community organizer around school
reform in San Francisco and co-founded the SF Freedom School. This led
to a job at SF State University teaching political science. I taught at
SFSU for 13 years. During the last four years, I helped to revive the
Experimental College (became its first director) and am now just retired
at 65. During my entire educational career, standardized tests have
been my nemesis.
While teaching U.S history
to rich kids in NYC, I refused to make history boring, a mere
recitation of dates, the names of white, rich men, and battles. I wanted
them to see history as crucial to their lives as active citizens. I
got in trouble for being good at that. The constant complaint from
administrators and parents was, I "wasn't preparing my students for the
test" -- the US History Achievement and US History Advanced Placement
tests. So, when I entered my PhD program at UC Davis, I was particularly
interested in my Educational Testing and Policy courses. I learned
how standardized tests scores have been misused by policy makers and the
media and that business leaders have always driven educational policy.
I have tried (and failed) to persuade teachers and parents that
standardized tests CREATE the achievement gap so they can NOT be used as
a tool to reduce it. I gave up this fight around 2007, totally
defeated. I had hoped by now that, at least, there might be some
question about the role of standardized tests in measuring educational
quality if not learning. Your editorial disabused me of that notion.
Of
course, I wonder why? The only answer I can come up with is that
standardized testing is inextricably intertwined with basic American
mythology. Simply, it goes like this:
- Learning should never be measured or ranked.
- Legitimacy of social and economic inequality relies fundamentally upon the myth that the US is a meritocracy - more merit, more money.
- Education is believed to be key to gaining merit and money.
- But to maintain inequality, we need to measure learning.
- Hence, standardized tests (designed on purpose to create the widest possible point spread) are used to distribute privilege and prestige to those who "deserve" it.
We
often speak of a third rails in the political system. But standardized
tests seem to be the engine that drives the system. Never to be
questioned or seen for what it is.
