While opponents of standardized testing continue to attract attention in the media, a national survey released by Public Agenda this week found that support for turning back the clock on the standards movement is virtually nonexistent among parents (2 percent), teachers (1 percent), employers (2 percent), and college professors (1 percent), with very large majorities among each group also viewing standardized tests as a motivational tool that prompts students to work harder. 95 percent of students in the survey said that they either can deal with the stress of standardized tests or don't worry at all about taking them. Most students and teachers said that preparing for the tests has not detracted from learning in their classrooms. While employers and college professors are giving public schools more credit for raising academic standards, they continue to complain that students emerging from those schools have weak writing, grammar, and basic math skills. Roughly 75 percent of employers and college professors say that the high school graduates they encounter have just fair or poor skills in grammar, spelling, and the ability to write clearly, and two thirds of both groups say the same about high school graduates' skills in basic math.
In Massachusetts, despite reports of anti-testing "backlash," support for standards-based reform appears to be growing. Bay State education officials announced last week that almost half of the 12,000 high school juniors who failed the state's challenging exit exam in English in 2001 passed it on their second attempt and that about one-third of the 15,000 students who failed the math test in 2001 cleared the hurdle this time around. "The vision of large numbers of seniors locked out of graduation exercises is starting to fade," wrote the editors of The Boston Globe in an editorial. "Employers, colleges, and military recruiters can be confident that the diplomas presented to this class will be weightier than those of its predecessors."
In New York, a small group of critics continues to express displeasure with the state's standardized tests. According to an article in Wednesday's New York Times, students at two alternative schools are boycotting this year's test and two legislators are trying to force the Board of Regents to accept alternatives to standardized tests, such as portfolios of student work. The parents complain that the tests distract schools from a curriculum that would surpass that covered by the state tests, but state officials say that children should be able to pass the tests without any special preparation.
"Reality Check 2002: The Impact of School Standards," and "Public Agenda: Reality Check 2002," Education Week, March 6, 2002
"Class Act on the MCAS," The Boston Globe, March 1, 2002, (available for a fee at http://www.bostonglobe.com)
"Boycotts and a Bill Protest Mandatory State Tests," by Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times, March 6, 2002