December 19, 2014 4:40 PM

Stanford: Point of schools is not more testing

From the left: Quorum Report’s liberal columnist Jason Stanford argues that standardized testing has only led to more standardized testing and not to better education for children

Imagine you’re a runner trying to beat your personal record in the mile. Is the point to get a better time or to actually run faster? Is the elapsed time the point of running, or is the real goal to run faster, to be stronger, to increase your endurance?

Don’t like sports metaphors? Fine. You’ve got a rib roast in the oven. Is it done because the meat thermometer reads 135 degrees? When your family chows down, does anyone congratulate the cook on the perfect thermometer reading or because the meat is tender, pink, juicy, and making me hungry as I write this?

So I put it to you again: What’s the point of data? We can treasure the marks on the door jam that inch up over the years, but the importance is in the growth of a child. You might think that in these cases the data and the actual result are the same, a difference without a distinction. And in that, you would fit right in with the data-driven education reformers these days who think test scores are the same thing as an education.

Let’s assume for the sake of the argument that the test scores are valid measures of classroom learning, something that the American Statistical Association has cautioned against. Last April, the ASA said “teachers account for about 1% to 14% of the variability in test scores” and that standardized testing should never be used as a tool to hold schools accountable. Basically, using test scores to gauge what happens in a classroom is like using that meat thermometer to measure how fast you ran a mile.

But no matter.

The complete column from Jason Stanford can be found in the R&D Department.

By Jason Stanford