An Educational Contrarian

I responded to a colleague's email this morning and thought it worthy of a post: Hi Ted-- Our accountability tests are necessarily uni-dimensional. That is, in order to generate consistent results over time we pick a single "construct," find "average" within the target population on that construct, and then measure out from that point to determine how far above or below average a student is (of course we don't use those terms, replacing them with numbers that sound less judgmental). That construct has to be uni-dimensional or "average" as the basis of consistent scores or the scores won't be stable over time. Thus a standardized test could be viewed as a sort of assay since it attempts to detect the degree to which a "thing" varies within a population. However, a standardized test--contrary to much popular belief--is only designed to measure the distance from average for a tested subject, which means it can never and has never...

A few days ago Gene Glass, one of the greats in the field of measurement, announced that he would no longer offer his intellect or his talents to the measurement community. It's worth reading why.

I ran into an Ed Week editorial this morning (click here ) which again exemplifies how few people actually know what a standardized test is, what it was designed to do, and as a result what the limits are regarding possible interpretations. The editorial starts this way: "What's worse than annual standardized testing? Not having it at all." In response I posted the following: What would truly be helpful is for folks to understand what a standardized test is, what it was designed to do, and what the limits are to the interpretive range of a test score. That understanding would quash most of the argument here. A standardized test is designed to offer a rank ordering of students that can then be used for comparative purposes. In order to provide a consistent rank ordering the design of the test requires that we sacrifice any ability to answer questions regarding why a student lands at a particular score. Thus a standardized test score, by design, is incapable of offe...

The big questions to me are at the systems level. We intended to build a system that would foment excellence and now everyone is scratching their heads and wondering why we don't seem to be getting there. Implicit in that is the notion that our tests and our standards are themselves systems capable of fomenting excellence and so the problem must be elsewhere. Perhaps instruction? Teacher quality? etc. I noticed that the commissioner blames teaching in one of your articles, but I don't buy that. What is missing is an honest conversation about what the tools we call tests and standards were actually designed to do. Were they designed to foment excellence or were they designed for some other purpose? And if they were designed for some other purpose and we adopt them and don't see the excellence we want, wouldn't it behoove us to lift the hood and see if somehow we have a mismatch? What you've identified in your work is evidence of the mismatch. Our standards consist of...

I find it unremarkable and simply a given that when establishing policy in virtually every professional field: medicine, engineering, construction, etc., policy makers and regulators turn to experts who understand the field. This helps ensure that the technical components are properly addressed and in turn helps ensure that the policies will have the desired effects. I wish policy makers would offer the same courtesy to the field of education. The lone qualification for someone to make education policy in this country is the completion of a high school education, as if having been in a school imparts expertise. I walk through buildings every day and yet that in no way qualifies me to build them. I go to my doctor when I'm sick but that doesn't qualify me to practice medicine. I use a computer but that doesn't qualify me to write code. But education seems to be different, treated as something any idiot can understand, and so no expertise is required to write the laws t...