Education author Bernard Chapin (who's been featured on here before) hits the nail on the head in a description of why touchy-feely educrats don't like standardized tests:
I had a chance to look at one of the Illinois books that involve “teaching to the test” the other day. It was quite informative. It contained exercises in phonological awareness that are intrinsic to any child’s learning how to read. I was rather impressed. The real thing that progressives hate about standardization is that it takes warm and fuzzy out of the process. All that is left is what you know and what you don’t know. Standardization merely compares the performance of an individual to that of a larger population. That’s it. Yet, comparisons of any kind are despised. It takes all the excuses and variables out. If a child cannot read as their peers do then is their manner of reading acceptable? No. Is it what we would call reading at all? No. That the testing of students is counter-productive is a widespread belief in our schools...
When I taught at the university...I had a student tell me that her brain did not think that way in regards to the multiple-choice examination that she got a C on. What processing deficit could she have had possibly had? All she had to do was select the right answer amid three wrong ones. It was child’s play, at least many years ago it was child’s play, now children, and some adults, are not expected to do it.
Emphasis mine. Standardized tests cut through a lot of the sheep dip in "progressive" educational techniques.
Posted by kswygert at March 1, 2005 09:32 AM