Is Current Testing of K-12 Students Valid?

Questions have been asked in recent years whether testing of K-to-12 students and even their often maligned teachers are bona fide.    Parents, usually among immigrant groups who are not fully familiar with English, are protesting that standardized collective tests that grade students and classes are not truly effective, nor are they they fair.

The New York Daily News had an article that noted a 2011 report commissioned by Congress and conducted by a National Academy of Sciences Committee, which found that America's test-based accountability systems "have not increased student achievement." The report’s author claimed "there is widespread teaching to the test and gaming of the systems that reflects a wasteful use of resources and leads to inaccurate or inflated measures of performance."

The basic argument of the groups is that test-makers are not aware of the society many students are from, and that the youngsters who cannot respond to tests should not be treated as dumb. And that youngsters who get little out of school are often victims of the system.

The perspective here is limited to the immigrants of today. Many of us remember when the same argument could have been used decades ago when other immigrants arrived. The children then also suffered from similar problems that face today’s newly-arrived kids. But over a short time, they were able to master standard tests. And without dumbing down standards to suit new norms that cater to the latest dubious educational whims.

The resolution seems to be in teaching English quickly instead of the current mishmash of dual languages. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)