Op-ed writer Brent Staples says in the NYTimes what I have been saying on this blog for quite some time:
The same civil rights groups that sing hosannas to Brown have been curiously muted - and occasionally even hostile - to No Child Left Behind. But the groups have mainly been missing from the debate...Why are civil rights groups standing on the sidelines instead of fighting to ensure that this law succeeds? The reasons are numerous and complex...[one of the reasons is the] antitesting argument. Civil rights activists commonly embrace the popular but erroneous view that the reading and math tests associated with No Child Left Behind are culturally biased or unfair to minority children. Paradoxically, those who hold this view are often middle- and upper-class African-Americans who have law degrees and Ph.D.'s, which require rigorous tests and high achievement.
The simple achievement tests required under the law are essential to the objective of closing the education gap. By arguing that these tests are inappropriate and culturally biased, these members of the liberal black elite have unwittingly embraced the worst stereotypes about the poor. They have also given cover to politicians who believe that the achievement gap can never be closed and that minority children can never reach the levels attained by their white, affluent counterparts.
In other words, the claim that tests of basic reading and math skills are biased against all minorities is itself a bigoted and racist argument. For some reason I've never understood, many of those who oppose testing unthinkingly stand behind a notion that the KKK would be proud to claim as their own: that multiple-choice questions are somehow innately impossible for non-white students to solve.
Smarter testing opponents will claim that the test is fine but the use of it is not, or that the differential impact of the test scores is the problem. Sometimes, this argument is correct, but even these critics stop too soon in the logical process. If a graduation exam does in fact have a differential impact for minority students (fewer of them pass, so fewer graduate), one must go beyond the scores and ask why. Too many critics merely suggest removing the tests, as opposing to eradicating the problems that cause minority students to perform poorly. Too many critics assume that everything must be wrong with the tests, and nothing wrong with the teaching.
Posted by kswygert at April 19, 2005 03:04 PM