How Test Obsession is Killing Education

http://www.nationofchange.org/how-test-obsession-killing-education-1380722590
In a recent dialogue published in Education Week, two authorities on education testing point to a potential way out of this mess.

One expert, Bob Linn, warns, “Raising the stakes for our test-based accountability systems so that there will be consequences for individual teachers will make matters even worse. Cheating scandals will blossom. I think this annual testing is unnecessary and is a big part of the problem. What we should be doing is testing at two key points along the way in grades K-8, and then in high school using end-of-course tests.”

Another, Howard Everson, bemoans, “The multiple-choice paradigm first used in WWI and eventually used to satisfy the NCLB requirements has proven to be quite brittle, especially when applied in every grade 3-8 and used to make growth assumptions. The quick and widespread adoption of multiple-choice testing was in hindsight a big mistake for this country, but – now – states will tell you it is all they can afford.”

No one, however, in a leadership position seems to be taking this advice.

In the meantime, accountability-crazed “reformers” believing that policy can focus solely on these numeric “outcomes” are taking the nation’s schools – and the children inside them – over a cliff.

As the country continues to veer toward the precipice, the first order of business is to shout, “Stop.”