June 2, 2005
BLACK AND BROWN VS. BLUE:
Minorities support 'racist' tests (Jonathan Zimmerman, 6/02/05, CS Monitor)
Last week, a group called the New York Collective of Radical Educators staged a protest against standardized testing.Responding to recent reports about substantial gains for fourth-graders on citywide reading and writing examinations, the group argued that the improved scores reflect "drill-and-kill" test-preparation activities rather than real learning. Worst of all, protesters maintained, the entire testing enterprise discriminates against racial minorities. For blacks and Hispanics especially, they said, standardized tests inhibit academic achievement and increase the dropout rate.
The only problem is, blacks and Hispanics don't see it that way.
Over the past decade, public opinion surveys have demonstrated overwhelming support among racial minorities for high-stakes testing. In a 2003 study by the Pew Hispanic Center, for example, three-quarters of Latinos said that standardized tests "should be used to determine whether students are promoted or can graduate." Two-thirds agreed that the federal government "should require states to set strict performance standards for public schools," as mandated under President Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
Likewise, African-Americans favor high-stakes tests by large margins. To be sure, activist groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have criticized NCLB and state graduation exams. But the black rank and file tell another story.
According to a 1998 survey by Public Agenda, nearly 8 of 10 African-American parents want schools to test children and publicize black-white achievement differences, just as NCLB requires.Only 28 percent say that standardized tests are "culturally biased" against black children, as critics often maintain. Many of these critics work at schools of education, where the standardized test serves as a symbol of everything that's wrong with American teaching.
Public education is an issue upon which the GOP can break the Democratic coalition. The interests of the unions and cultural elites are antithetical to those of black and Hispanic parents and their school age kids. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 2, 2005 12:00 AM
Nothing we could do for education would be as easy and effective as closing down college and university Education Departments. It would even save us money.
Posted by: David Cohen at June 2, 2005 8:20 AMOf course the tests are culturally biased. How could not be? An educational system designed to prepare individuals for life on the ice floes or in the Outback wlould have to be biased in favor of Innuit and aborigine cultures.
Posted by: Lou Gots at June 2, 2005 8:31 AMGots got it exactly.
What do the critics have against these kids learning to read well? If the parents can't or won't teach them who will? And without that skill being forced how else can further "real learning" take place? What do they propose as an alternative that works? How much longer must they have to prove their progressive approaches haven't been failures?
Posted by: Genecis at June 2, 2005 9:53 AMWhether schools do or don't educate is beside the point. They deliver what their core "customers" want - day care. As long as that service is provided they will maintain the core support they need to maintain business as usual.
Posted by: Luciferous at June 2, 2005 12:05 PMThe problem with activists is that they rarely represent the constituencies they claim.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at June 2, 2005 12:23 PMThe customers don't want it. They're forced to pay for it.
Posted by: oj at June 2, 2005 12:30 PMStandardized testing is doomed to fail. Here in Arizona, we've had the AIMS test for ten years. Supposedly, students had to pass it to graduate from high school. Each time the implementation year approached, it was delayed as too few students were passing and parents were complaining. (The teachers have always complained). So time was taken to dumb down the test and start over. Now, 2006 graduates are supposed to be the first who will have to pass to graduate. Fortunately, the passing grade has been lowered to 60%. Huge swathes of idiots will, however, fail to pass next year as usual; and the whole rigmarole will start over again.
Posted by: Brandon at June 2, 2005 12:36 PMOJ, Brandon:
Schools fail to educate. Do parents create a political uproar to fix the problem? Is school funding at risk when the problem endures? No, because the one thing the schools still do (warehouse kids) is appreciated by the bulk of the people who would need to do the revolting. Is this situation unalterable? No, but the people voting for the taxes to pay for this situation would need to have expectations very different from those now in place.
Posted by: Luciferous at June 2, 2005 2:19 PMLuciferous:
No they don't. Most schools provide an adequate, though merely adequate, education, especially suburban schools.
Posted by: oj at June 2, 2005 2:52 PMOJ:
The definition of merely adequate drifts lower by the year. And this is for the reading, writing, and computing aspects of education for which we have some measure. As for the moral formation and character development aspects of an education, good luck. Sure there are exceptional counter-examples, but they are just that.
Posted by: Luciferous at June 2, 2005 4:18 PMLike so many other central-control things, the current public education establishment is brittle, and when it comes apart it will be swift.
Posted by: ray at June 2, 2005 10:31 PM