A Defense of Standardized Testing

In this Education Gadfly article, Kathleen Porter-Magee and Jennifer Borgioli list four “fundamental misunderstandings” in the arguments made by opponents of high-stakes testing:

• Myth #1: Teachers’ instincts should guide instruction. Critics of test-driven accountability say we should just let teachers teach – that standardized testing wastes instructional time, distracts teachers from what’s really important, and provides very little useful information about student learning. But without independent checks, say Porter-Magee and Borgioli, “many teachers hold low-income and minority students to different standards than affluent, white peers. This bias is rarely intentional, but it has been found time and time again.” Good tests ensure all students are held to high expectations and identify students who need extra help, spotlight achievement gaps, and expose schools that are not doing justice to their students. In so doing, say the authors, tests “drive critical conversations about the curriculum, pedagogy, and state and district policies that we need to catch kids up and get them back on the path to success.”

• Myth #2: Testing is responsible for “drill-and-kill” instruction. First of all, low-level, worksheet-driven instruction is nothing new, say Porter-Magee and Borgioli: “It’s a function of low teacher capacity, failed leadership, or excessive within-class achievement variability, not overzealous accountability.” Second, test prep doesn’t raise achievement on standardized tests; high-quality teaching and intellectually challenging work are the formula for success.

• Myth #3: Tests can’t measure what really matters. True, tests have limitations, say Porter-Magee and Borgioli, and there is an art as well as a science to teaching. However, “There is real content that students need to master; there are questions that have right and wrong answers; and there are many skills that can be evaluated using well-crafted standardized tests, including even the multiple-choice kind.” 

• Myth #4: Setting standards and holding schools accountable with tests doesn’t work. Those who take this position point to Finland’s decentralized, laissez-faire curriculum approach. But this ignores the fact that the Finns had three decades of tightly controlled central curriculum before dialing back once they achieved a high level of compliance and teacher skill. “Our own history suggests that it is exactly the states that have set rigorous standards connected to strong accountability regimes – most notably, Massachusetts – that have seen the greatest gains for all students, not just our most disadvantaged,” say Porter-Magee and Borgioli. “Tests deserve not to be derided but celebrated for the crucial role they are playing in our schools. They are not the only answer to what ails American education, but it’s hard to think of a meaningful reform effort that doesn’t require the effective measurement of student achievement that tests make possible.” 

“The Four Biggest Myths of the Anti-Testing Backlash” by Kathleen Porter-Magee and Jennifer Borgioli in The Education Gadfly, Feb. 14, 2013, http://bit.ly/VAjso6

From the Marshall Memo #473