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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > February > 24
Friday, February 24, 2006
Test companies need a watchdog
So here’s a question about testing. If an idea become so totally accepted in the mainstream that opposition to it begins to dry up, does that mean it must be right? And does that mean we don’t need watchdogs anymore to ask tough questions and point out flaws and errors in the prevailing train of thought?
That’s apparently what we’re facing when it comes to standardized tests. Michael Winerip writes today in the New York Times that FairTest, one of the few national voices challenging the use or standardized tests as a sole gateway for judging student readiness for promotion, graduation, college or other purposes, is low on funds an in real danger of closing shop.
As NCLB has taken standardized testing to nearly every grade and every classroom nationally, those who at first wondered out loud if this is a good idea and later complained that it might be dangerous have, by-and-by, mostly yielded to the tidal wave of federal and political power behind the trend. And yet, as Winerip points out, FairTest continues to point out devastating mistakes these big testing corporations make that can actually harm kids and raise tough questions of fairness in the way the tests are created, administered and scored.
Even so, critics say they are so far out of the mainstream, they should be ignored. Blogger Alexander Russo, for instance, chided reporters last year for using a “fringe” group like FairTest as a source at all.
Here at the Dayton Daily News, we’ve written a lot about the impact of testing errors and problems of standardized test creation and scoring.
As the nation plows ahead with more testing-based instruction, I think journalists should ask more questions, not less, about how this largely mysterious process works and whether it is serving us well. And even if you think their point of view is nuts, it’s probably good to have a strong watchdog voice out there asking tough questions, too.
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