Heuristics and NCLB Standardized Tests: A Convenient Lie

Yıl 2009, Cilt: 5 Sayı: 2, 6 - 22, 01.08.2009

Arnold Dodge

Öz

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires public schools in the United States to test students in grades 3-8. The author argues that this mandate has been supported by the public, in part, because of the “availability heuristic,” a phenomenon which occurs when people assess the probability of an event by the ease with which instances or occurrences can be brought to mind. These “mental short cuts,” which tend to oversimplify complex issues, are being employed by policy-makers in promoting standardized testing as the panacea for the problems of the public school system. The premises of this campaign include the “good intentions” to “leave no child behind,” the promise of improved accountability through high-stakes testing and the purported worthiness of test results. The author claims these premises are specious and examines their harmful potential for diverting resources, distracting educators and alarming children

Kaynakça

• Ascribe newswire (2006, July 12). Student proficiency test scores impact home values, study finds. Retrieved July 21, 2008, from http://www.ascribe.org
• ABC of Yoga (2006). Competitive yoga to become an olympic sport. Retrieved August 17, 2008, from http://www.abc-of- yoga.com/news/200612/competitive-yoga-to-become-an-olympic-sport.asp
• Arenson, K. (2003, August 27). New York math exam trial showed most students failing. New York Times, p. C12
• Berk, L.E., & Winsler,A. (1995). Scaffolding children's learning: Vygotsky and early childhood education. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
• Changing Minds (n.d.). Availability heuristic. Retrieved July 26, 2008, from http://www.changingminds.org/explanations/theories/availability_heuristic.ht m
• deVise, D. (2007, March 4). A concentrated approach to exams: Rockville school's efforts to raise questions of test-prep ethics. Washington Post. Retrieved March 6, 2007, from http://www.washingtonpost.com
• Economic Expert (n.d.). Availability heuristic. Retrieved July 26, 2008, from http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Availability;heuristic.htm
• Elkind, D. (1981). The hurried child. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
• Farley, J.D., & Rosario, H. (2008, May 15). A critique of monetary educational incentives for elementary and middle school students in New York City public schools. Teachers College Record. Retrieved May 24, 2008, from http://wwwtcrecord.org
• Flanagan, N. (2007). Sitting in Einstein's lap. Retrieved January 15, 2008, from http://teacherleaders.org
• Glod, M. (2008, June 13). Mandated tutoring not helping Maryland, Virginia scores: Several states find 'No Child' provision does little to improve test results.
• Washington Post. Retrieved June 17, 2008, from
• http://www.washingtonpost.com
• Goleman, D. (2007). Social intelligence: The new science of human relationships. New York: Bantam.
• Gonen, Y. (2008, August 28). Parents slam 'k' kid testing. New York Post, p.2.
• Gonen, Y., & Soltis, A. (2008, June 24). School kids hit high marks. New York Post, p.8.
• Gould, S. J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. New York: Norton.
• Hallinger, P. & Snidvongs, K. (2008, January). Educating leaders: Is there anything to learn from business management? Educational Management, Administration and Leadership, 36, 9-31
• Hayes, Deirdre (2004). State policy and district responsiveness: the relationship between district responsiveness to New York State policy in the areas of standards and assessments and district socio-economic status and district performance on assessment tests. (Doctoral dissertation, St. Johns University, 2004). Dissertation Abstracts International, 65, 2037
• Hursh, D. (2007). Assessing No Child Left Behind and the rise of neoliberal education policies. American Educational Research Journal 44(3), 493-518.
• Gardner, W. (2007, November 21). Reading for test scores and for life [Letter to the editor]. New York Times. P. A35
• Jarret, O. (2002). Recess in elementary school: What does the research say? Retrieved August 15, 2008, from http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu
• Kohn, A. (2000). The case against standardized testing: Raising the scores, ruining the schools. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook.
• Lucadamo, K. (2006, February, 2). Hey, this is kindergarten, not salt mines, says irate dad. New York Daily News, p. 8.
• McCaw, D. (2007, February). Dangerous intersection ahead. The School Administrator 64 (2), 32-39
• Medina, J. (2007, November 16). Little progress for city schools on national test. New York Times. p. B5.
• Meyers, C. (2007, November 21). Reading for test scores and for life. [Letter to the editor]. New York Times, p. A35
• Neuman, Susan (2008, July31). Education should lift all children. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved August 15, 2008, from http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
• Neylan, T.C., (Ed.). (1998, spring). Hans Selye and the field of stress research. Neuropsychiatry Classics, 10 (1), 230
• Nichols, S., & Berliner, D. (2007). Collateral damage : How high-stakes testing corrupts America's schools. New York: Harvard Education Press.
• No Child Left Behind Act, PL107-110 (2001) (enacted).
• Nussbaum, D. (2006, December 10). Before the children ask, 'What's recess?' New York Times, p. 3.
• Perkins-Gough, D. (2004, September). Special report: The eroding curriculum. Educational Leadership, 62(1), 84-85
• Pink, D. (2006). A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York: Riverhead Trade.
• Rich, M. (2007, November 19). Study links drop in test scores to a decline in time spent reading. New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com
• Richie-Sharp, S (n.d.). The history of kindergarten. Retrieved August 15, 2008, from http://froebelweb.tripod.com/web2003.html
• Robinson, K. (2006) Do schools kill creativity? Talk presented at TED Convention. Retrieved August 12, 2008, from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativit y.html
• Rothstein, R., & Jacobsen, R. (2006, December). The goals of education. Phi Delta Kappan 88(4), 264-272
• Rowan, B. (1982). Organizational structure and the institutional environment: The case of public schools. Administrative Science Quarterly, 27, 259-79.
• Sanacore, J. (2007). Needed: Critics of literacy education with a more inclusive perspective. International Journal of Progressive Education, 3(1), 29-43
• Saunders, Sylvia (2008, June 5) Regents seeking faster turnaround for 3-8 tests: Should SED revise testing calendar and change the scoring process? New York Teacher, p. 4
• Seewald, C. (2007). Interviewing a school administrator. Unpublished manuscript, Long Island University/C.W. Post Campus.
• Shepard, L., & Smith,M. (1989). Escalating kindergarten curriculum. Retrieved August 22, 2008, from http://ericeece.org
• Standards, Assessment and Accountability (2008). Retrieved August 22, 2008, from http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/saa.nt
• Terkel, A. (2007). Bush's 'soft bigotry of low expectations' on Katrina reconstruction. Retrieved August 31, 2008, from http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/29/bush- education-Katrina/
• Testing Companies Struggle to Meet NCLB Demands (2007, March 25). Retrieved March 29, 2007, from: http://cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/03/25.nclb.standardized.test.ap/index.html
• Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974, September 27). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124-1131
• Weingarten, R. (2007, October 18). Turning negative to positive. New York Teacher/City Edition. p.9
• Wineburg, Sam (1997, September). T.S. Eliot, collaboration and the quandaries of assessment in a rapidly changing world. Retrieved January 21, 2008, from http://www.pdkintl.org
• Yerkes-Dodson law: Arousal and learning (n.d.). Retrieved August 17, 2008, from http://www.nwlink.com