In this recent story from NPR entitled “How Standardized Tests Are Scored (Hint: Humans Are Involved),” it becomes clear how companies like Pearson have purposely created a “facade of objectivity” in order to make it appear that their scoring of tests has some kind of legitimacy. This kind of test wizardry has become more common as the quest for “objective measures” has heated up in recent years. The NPR story helps cast doubt on this so-called “objectivity-from-afar!”
Somehow our education policymakers from President Obama through Arne Duncan down to our state departments of education have decided we can’t trust classroom teachers to tell us how students are doing. Instead, the motto in public education has become “In Pearson We Trust!”
Check out the NPR story here.
