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We could realize significant progress in public education if the proponents of standards-based reform joined hands with the critics of high-stakes testing and effectively outlawed the use of high-stakes tests as sole indicators of student success, Mr. Thompson points out.
ONE THING the standards movement will never be accused of is a lack of critical opposition. But for all the fiery rhetoric that critics direct against this powerful, nationwide movement, there is perhaps no greater threat to standards-based reform than much of what is being perpetrated in the name of standards-based reform. The so-called movement- so-called, because it is not truly a single movement but twin movements bearing the same name - has become its own worst enemy.
If giving twins the same name is a recipe for confusion, consider the havoc that gets unleashed when one of them proves to be an "evil twin."' In the case of the standards movement, the evil twin is the more visible and powerful of the siblings, and so its authentic namesake is in an increasingly perilous situation. In fact, the problem is even worse: the two are essentially joined at the hip.
So what are these twin movements? First, let's distinguish them by name. I would rename the evil twin "test-based reform" or more specifically "high-stakes, standardized, test-based reform." The sibling, then, is "authentic, standards-based reform." The defining distinction between them is their respective influence on the instructional core of schooling and on equity issues.
When academic progress is judged by a single indicator and when high stakes - such as whether a student is promoted from one grade to the next or is eligible for a diploma - are attached to that single indicator, the common effect is to narrow curriculum and reduce instruction to test "prepping." What gets lost when teachers and students are pressured to make students better test-takers is precisely the rich, high-level teaching and learning that authentic, standards-based reform aims to promote in all classrooms and for all students.
Authentic, standards-based reform is fundamentally concerned with equity. It departs radically from the tracking and sorting carried out by the factory-style school of yore. Instead, it aims to hold high expectations and provide high levels of support for all students, teachers, and...