Test Results Not Used Punitively?

 “Finally, these countries do not use their examination systems to rank or punish schools or to deny diplomas to students. Following the problems that resulted from the Thatcher government’s use of test-based school rankings, which caused a narrowing of the curriculum and widespread exclusions of students from school, several countries enacted legislation precluding the use of test results for school rankings.” (from the article What Would It Mean To Be Internationally Competitive? by Linda Darling-Hammond.)

Finally, an approach to testing that makes sense!  Amazing that these well-performing nations don’t use testing to rank or punish schools!  Instead, test scores are used to help inform decisions on improving curriculum.  And for many of them, testing decisions are based at the state and local level, with teachers participating in the creation and grading of assessments.

“Policy makers decided that if they invested in very skillful teachers, they could allow local schools more autonomy to decide what and how to teach —a reaction against the highly centralized system they sought to overhaul.”

I feel like finally, there is evidence to back up some of the things that I know many teachers have been thinking for quite a while: that more and more emphasis on standardized tests, with punitive results for low-performing schools (and students), is not right.  It doesn’t make our students better learners.  And it doesn’t make us better teachers.

I ended up reading an article this week (not posted for this class, just on a random website) on parents around the country beginning to “opt out” of standardized testing for their children because of the stresses they could see it was causing their youngsters.  They also were distressed at the amount of time spent in the classroom preparing for the test, that could be better spent on more engaging activities.  I wasn’t aware that this is a growing trend, but I can understand, from the point of view of a parent. And I wonder how long it will be before the pendulum swings back again?