An analysis of a current trend in educational curriculum and instruction.

1. Running Head: STANDARDIZED TESTING 1
Standardized Testing: A Trend Analysis
Adam J. Mueller
Purdue University
EDCI 52003-003
November 7, 2021
Dr. Krista Primrose

2. Running Head: STANDARDIZED TESTING 2
Trend Analysis: Standardized Testing
For decades, education reformists have been searching for the correct way to determine if
a school is performing up to standards well enough for it to be considered successful. Elliot
Eisner (2017) writes that “standards and the measurement of performance were intended to tidy
up a messy system and to make teachers and school administrators truly accountable” (2017, p.
313). For the early part of the 2000’s, the way that the federal government determined that we
judge schools was in part by examining the results of the standardized testing that the No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001 brought to the forefront. The goal of the bill was to close the gap of
academic achievement amongst students, no matter of demographic (NCLB article). However,
this did not end up being the case. In fact, many argue that the strict requirements and
unachievable expectations caused the predictable downfall of school districts who could not meet
the lofty expectations that the bill required of them. Adler-Greene (2019) writes that “NCLB
testing requirements became known as the ‘one size fits all’ solution to the achievement gap
between high and low performing children” (2019, p. 13). The consequences for schools
repeatedly failing to meet these requirements included things like parents being able to remove
their child from that school at no cost, the state taking over daily operations at the school, or even
the state shutting the school down entirely (Adler-Greene, 2019).
Due to the fear of these harsh consequences, teachers felt more pressure to “teach to the
test” than to actually educate the learners in a holistic way like John Dewey or Jane Addams
would have preferred. Jane Addams philosophy was to prepare students for the work-force by
having them connect with their cultural past (Addams, 2017). Under the NCLB bill, teachers
were in essence forced “to narrow their curriculum to prioritize high test scores as opposed to
creating an environment that nurtured learning” (Adler-Greene, 2019, p. 14). Wayne Au’s

3. Running Head: STANDARDIZED TESTING 3
(2017) research on what he called “high-stakes testing” also backed up this notion. He studied
the findings of 49 different qualitative studies on high-stakes testing and found that “high-stakes
tests encourage curricular alignment to the tests themselves” (Au, 2017, p. 305). He also made
the point that curricular content was taught in isolated pieces during this era, and that students
“often learned only within the context of the tests themselves” (Au, 2017, p. 305). After the
completion of this study, Au also felt the need to more closely analyze “how curricular control
may or may not contribute to educational inequality” (Au, 2017, pg. 308).
Eventually, No Child Left Behind gave way to the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.
Even though standardized testing still exists under this bill, it is no longer the primary way that
schools are deemed successful or not (Adler-Greene, 2019). Other factors like attendance and
access to college prep courses are now more heavily weighted for the success measurement of
schools under ESSA (Adler-Greene, 2019). This is a good thing because standardized test,
according to Eisner’s work, are really only good at predicting other test scores and not true
academic achievement (Eisner, 2017). He writes: “The function of schooling is not to enable
students to do better in school. The function of schooling is to enable students to do better in
life” (Eisner, 2017, p. 315). Eisner contends that if greater equity in quality of education is truly
at the forefront of lawmakers when they sign new bills, then there certainly has to be a better
way to measure this than a series of tests (Eisner, 2017). Instead of all students arriving at the
same place at the same time, educators should celebrate variance and diversity in the speed in
which students grasp materials. Eisner’s idea is that schools should individualize the student’s
curriculum based on their academic strengths and interests as opposed to shuffling everybody
through the same curriculum at the same pace (Eisner, 2017). This would be more of the idea
that reformers of days past would be applauding, such as John Dewey or Jane Addams.

4. Running Head: STANDARDIZED TESTING 4
Overall, standardized testing is not an inherently bad idea. However, the NCLB Act was
evidence that it cannot be the sole factor in how schools are judged. Even though it is not
weighted as heavily as it once was, it is hard to imagine a local or state education department that
does not want a measure of how teachers and schools are performing. Maybe that is simply
because I was a student in the NCLB era of education, but there must be a way that we can
assign performance value to education without singling out those that struggle with reading or
math. Maybe a measure on how well students collaborate with others is included, or possibly a
measure of how positive or negative students’ attitudes towards learning itself within a school or
district. But as Eisner says, it’s probably a variety of factors that must be examined to truly
understand how well a school is doing (Eisner, 2017). That being said, standardized testing will
seemingly have a place in that measurement for the foreseeable future. It just depends on how
hard those results are to be looked at.
References
Addams, J. (2017). The public school and the immigrant child. In The Curriculum Studies
Reader (5th ed), David J. Flinders and Stephen J. Thornton (eds), 55-57. Routledge, New
York.
Adler-Greene, L. (2019). Every student succeeds act: Are schools making sure every student
succeeds? Touro Law Review, 35(1), 11–25.
Au, W. (2017). High-stakes testing and curriculum control: A qualitative metasynthesis. In The
Curriculum Studies Reader (5th ed), David J. Flinders and Stephen J. Thornton (eds),
295-312. Routledge, New York.
Eisner, E. (2017). What does it mean to say a school is doing well? In The Curriculum Studies
Reader (5th ed), David J. Flinders and Stephen J. Thornton (eds), 313-322. Routledge,
New York.
Klein, A. (2015, April 10). No child left behind: An overview. Education Week. Retrieved
November 1, 2021, from https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/no-child-left-behind-an-
overview/2015/04.