Elizabeth Cox's reflection on the journal article:
"Standardized
testing and school segregation:
Like tinder for fire?"
Like tinder for fire?"
By Matthew Knoester and Wayne Au
Citation:
Citation:
Knoester, M., & Au, W. (2017).
Standardized testing and school segregation:
Like tinder for fire? Race Ethnicity and Education, 20(1), 1–14.
Like tinder for fire? Race Ethnicity and Education, 20(1), 1–14.
Reflection
This
article explores the relationship between high-stakes standardized testing and
segregation of students by race or class in the U.S. education system.
High-stakes standardized testing has become increasingly important in U.S.
pedagogical approaches; at the same time, school re-segregation has gained
ground in recent decades. Authors Knoester and Au posit that the outcome of
high-stakes standardized testing combined with school choice practices has
resulted in a system for racial coding that exacerbates segregation and
inequities existing in our schools (Knoester & Au, 2017).
Scholars
who study high-stakes standardized testing have pointed to negative outcomes
associated with the practice. Problems include curriculums tailored to tested
subjects and the pressure put on schools and instructors to focus efforts on
“bubble kids”- a practice that disadvantages other students. Design of the
high-stakes standardized tests is skewed by lack of open discussion when
deciding test content and the margin of sampling error inherent in short tests (Knoester & Au, 2017).
The
authors survey the history of segregation in schools and the flaws in
desegregation plans that emerged from Brown
v. Board of Education. As desegregation plans have been abandoned over
time, de facto re-segregation has germinated and grown. In decades since the
ruling by the Supreme Court that ‘separate educational facilities are
inherently unequal’, studies have documented the positive effects yielded by
desegregation. Desegregation benefits nonwhite and poor students without
decreasing white and affluent student achievement. Integration mediates racial
stereotyping by fostering cross-racial communication and respect. The
psychological rewards intrinsic in integration are evident as feelings of
alienation are assuaged in integrated school environments. The
democratic ideals ingrained in U.S. public education align with integration
praxes (Knoester & Au, 2017).
White resistance
to desegregation has created hurdles and detours in the process of integration
across the board. In many ways, Brown v.
Board of Education was poorly implemented using flawed approaches. In some
southern locales, black teachers lost their jobs (over 38,000), black community
schools were shut down, and black students were treated poorly in multiracial
schools that were created post Brown v
Board. The injustices of early desegregation were manifold (Knoester & Au, 2017).
Knoester and Au
point to use of standardized tests as ‘powerful managerial tools’ that supports
racial coding. Racism has been evidenced in testing systems throughout U.S.
history. Mental testing was used to justify the eugenics movement in the early
20th century. In 1917, the Army implemented Alpha and Beta Army
tests to sort recruits. This testing approach was used to promulgate the theory
that intelligence of immigrants could be assessed in relation to their country
of origin. Stanford-Binet intelligence tests were flawed and mirrored social
class bias. Standardized intelligence tests were adopted as a means of sorting
students by race and class. IQ test results have been tools of
institutionalized self-fulfilling prophesy disguised as ‘scientific’ measure (Knoester & Au, 2017).
The authors apply
Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a framework for explaining the mechanics of
racism in schools. In addition, CRT explains how the relationship between race
and legal property rights underpins racism in America. Race-neutral laws
actually obfuscate inequalities – promulgating the ideology of meritocracy (Knoester & Au, 2017).
In my opinion, the
future of the perspective presented in this article regarding standardized
testing lies in further research and discussion on a national level. A
re-evaluation of the ‘No Child Left Behind’ initiative is critical to the
future of education in the U.S. New forms of assessment must be designed and
developed to evaluate learning in our schools while reflecting respect for
student diversity. Individual students learn in a variety of ways expressing a
variety of aptitudes.
This article has
made me aware of specific research and scholarly evaluation that highlights the
injustice and inefficacy of high-stakes standardized testing. I am also aware
of the monumental difficulty involved in efforts to undo this testing system
rooted in historically supremacist methods of marginalizing populations. I
propose a ‘No Child Codified’ initiative to reset our educational goals to a
healthy paradigm. Who will captain the cause of educational reform to deliver
unbiased education that is the foundation of an enlightened society?
