The testing charade : pretending to make schools better / Daniel Koretz.

Author/creator Koretz, Daniel M. author.
Format Book
PublicationChicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
Copyright Date©2017
Descriptionviii, 275 pages ; 24 cm
Subjects

Contents Beyond all reason -- What is a test? -- The evolution of test-based "reform" -- Campbell's law -- Score inflation -- Cheating -- Test prep -- Making up unrealistic targets -- Evaluating teachers -- Will the Common Core fix this? -- Did kids learn more? -- Nine principles for doing better -- Doing better -- Wrapping up.
Abstract For decades we've been studying, experimenting with, and wrangling over different approaches to improving public education, and there's still little consensus on what works and what to do. The one thing people seem to agree on is that schools need to be held accountable - we need to know whether what they're doing is actually working. But what does it mean in practice? High-stakes tests. Lots of them. And that has created a crisis in American schools. Daniel Koretz, one of the nation's foremost experts on educational testing, argues in The Testing Charade that the whole idea of test-based accountability has failed - it has increasingly become an end in itself, harming students and corrupting the very ideals of teaching. In this powerful polemic, built on unimpeachable evidence and rooted in decades of experience with educational testing, Koretz calls out high-stakes testing as a sham that is ripe for manipulation and shows little evidence of leading to educational improvement. Rather than setting up incentives to divert instructional time to pointless test prep, he argues, we need to measure what matters, and measure it in multiple ways - not just via standardized tests. RIght now, we're lying to ourselves about whether our children are learning. And the longer we accept that lie, the more damage we do. It's time to end our blind reliance on high-stakes tests. With The Testing Charade, Daniel Koretz insists that we face the facts and change course, and he gives us a blueprint for doing better. -- from dust jacket.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
LCCN 2017012607
ISBN9780226408712 hardcover alkaline paper
ISBN022640871X hardcover alkaline paper
ISBNelectronic book
Standard identifier# 40027423774