NCLB - improve test scores, not learnnig

Bob Herbert explains how holding school administrators responsible for student test scores improves test scores but not student learning.

If teachers, administrators, politicians and others have a stake in raising the test scores of students — as opposed to improving student learning, which is not the same thing — there are all kinds of incentives to raise those scores by any means necessary.

“We’ve now had four or five different waves of educational reform,” said Dr. Koretz, “that were based on the idea that if we can just get a good test in place and beat people up to raise scores, kids will learn more. That’s really what No Child Left Behind is.”

The problem is that you can raise scores the hard way by teaching more effectively and getting the students to work harder, or you can take shortcuts and start figuring out ways, as Dr. Koretz put it, to “game” the system.

Guess what’s been happening?

Yep. I told you so. Ask anyone who has watched the many iterations of the Army Officer Evaluation System as they tried to remove the game playing and get real evaluations that gave a reliable and honest score that can compare the effectiveness of different officers. Talk about your unachievable fantasies! Just like No Child Left Behind (NCLB.)

Actual teaching is a lot harder than game playing with the scores. Make getting a high score into a high-risk game, and the tests will pass the finest game-players who can most easily manipulate the scores.