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Paul, I share similar observations and sentiments, but it doesn't so much have to do with measuring per say.  What's happening in the US and in most of Europe and elsewhere is rote curriculum standardization and diminution of teaching as a profession.  Finland's stellar rise from the low ranks to a place of leadership provides an enlightening example.  They don't teach to the test. Teachers have responsibility and authority, and students follow a more varied curriculum beyond elementary school.  It's a striking contrast to the craziness that has gripped us.  And Finnish students are at or near the top of the ranks when tested.

We seem to have adopted a draconian and rigid approach to curriculum and learning in the vain attempt to force learning, and created a  bureaucratic monster, which is now undergoing reform from the outside.  

C

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On Mar 23, 2013, at 6:17 AM, Paul Orselli <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Educational assessment  in schools can, in "theory," provide benefits.
> (And certainly has able and articulate champions in folks like Alan
> Friedman.)
> 
> However, reporting on the ground as a parent of four children in our own
> public school district on Long Island (an area of the U.S. with, generally
> speaking, very highly rated schools) I find the "practice" of testing
> corrosive, and downright antithetical to many of the values that I, as a
> museum worker, hold dear.
> 
> The practice of educational assessment has effectively squeezed anything
> not on a test out of the school day --- even more so in just the past few
> years.  I can see this not only observationally in the differences between
> the lessons and assignments over the years from my oldest and youngest
> children, but directly (measurably!) in the differences in the amount of
> time now spent on testing, pre-testing (and to my disgust, pre-pre-testing.)
> 
> Testing in schools is used not only to "measure" student progress, but also
> as a political bludgeon tied to (wait for it) MONEY.
> Aside from the ways testing is used to control school funding, the "testing
> materials"  and "test prep" business is BIG business.  Schools are spending
> more money from their increasingly limited budgets on these execrable test
> prep workbooks and the like. Schools are forced to decide how to allocate
> resources (time and money) between "test related" and "non test related"
> programs, like art, music, and astoundingly, recess!
> This directly impacts decisions on whether to take time for museum field
> trips, for example.
> 
> Certainly we can all agree that many parts of the U.S. public school system
> can be improved.  But I can't help but wonder if the "cures" being provided
> aren't worse than many of the underlying "ailments."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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