Standardized testing for college students
The Illinois Board of Higher Education is considering holding colleges accountable with standardized assessments, but they seem to be going about it in a half-hearted fashion:
One of the proposed solutions is through the use of standardized testing, similar to the IGAP tests taken by high school juniors each year. The tests are not intended to be a critique of a student’s progress through college, but to be analyzed as a group to gain information about where a particular department or curriculum stands with respect to others...There are drawbacks to these tests. The tests would rely heavily on student good will. Since they would not be part of any coursework and would not affect a particular student’s GPA, it would be difficult to ensure students would take them seriously...Though a good idea in theory, the simple reality is that such tests would not be possible on the scale required to make them useful at a large university such as [Northern Illinois University].
Wow. I don't know that I've ever before read anything by a college newspaper journalist who complains that the testing stakes aren't high enough to be useful.