Member-only story
Standardized Testing is a Scam to Steal Money From Education
Seriously, does anyone still believe in standardized testing?
Imagine for a moment the students in Mrs. Rolfe’s class all took their standardized test. Imagine further all the students in Mrs. Rolfe’s class not only took the standardized test but aced it. Every. Single. One. That would be quite an event, wouldn’t it?
With those kinds of test results, we would most likely draw some sort of conclusion. Think for a moment about this. Picture it. Every student aced the standardized test in her class. What could be at the root of this? There are three distinct possibilities.
- Mrs. Rolfe is a really great teacher.
- The students in Mrs. Rolfe’s class are very smart.
- The test was too easy.
Be honest now. Which of those three possibilities did you think of? You know which one. You thought of number three. Admit it. For as nice as it sounds to call Mrs. Rolfe a really great teacher, you most likely would not attribute the students’ success to her teaching methods. You also would not concede that the students in her class are all intelligent enough to ace this test, given the bell curve, standard deviations, and other statistical rigamarole.
