Testing and Standards In Reign of Error, Ravitch argues that standardized test scores in reading and mathematics are higher than ever before. This goes against the claim that test scores are declining evincing our broken educational system. Moreover, in the past forty years, the science and mathematics tests have gotten much more difficult (44). The idea of relying on standardized test scores to student achievement was introduced by Ted Bell in the 1970s (Goldstein, 168).
Later on, with No Child Left Behind under the Bush administration and Race to the Top under Obama’s presidency, standardized tests were used for accountability. Under Race to the Top, not only the schools but also the teachers were held responsible for low performing students. If a teacher was seen as ineffective or if a school did not meet the standards, the teacher would be fired or the school would be shut down. However, this is unfair to the teacher because all children learn at different rates in various ways. There are other factors such as family life and poverty, which are out of the teacher’s control, that determine how well the
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By the tests being the goal, the purpose of education is distorted, the process of human development is ignored, and the students are prepared to be dutiful citizens of a democracy (265). Students and teaches worry more about picking the right answer and getting high grades on the test, rather than learning to think interpret, and understand the subject (Goldstein, 269). Ravitch and Goldstein argue that standardized tests should only be used as diagnostic tools. Ravitch also continues to say that report cards should be confidential information that also include qualitative comments available to the teachers, students, and parents