Book contents
- Testing and the Paradoxes of Fairness
- Reviews
- Testing and the Paradoxes of Fairness
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Annotated Table of Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 A Brief Recounting of the First Four Millennia of Testing
- Chapter 2 Why Tests Are so Widely Disliked
- Chapter 3 The Origins and Consequences of Mental Testing in the U.S. Military
- Chapter 4 Testing in Grades K-12
- Chapter 5 Licensing Examinations
- Chapter 6 Admission Testing for Higher Education
- Chapter 7 Tests Used for Merit-Based Scholarships
- Chapter 8 Using Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers: An Assessment of Value-Added Models
- Chapter 9 Dividing Test Scores into Subcomponents
- Chapter 10 On Cost Functions in Testing
- Chapter 11 Evidence in Science: Should We Use Data and What Data Can We Trust?
- Chapter 12 Three Cautionary Tales of Zombie Ideas about Testing
- Chapter 13 Coda
- References
- Index
Chapter 4 - Testing in Grades K-12
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 October 2025
Book contents
- Testing and the Paradoxes of Fairness
- Reviews
- Testing and the Paradoxes of Fairness
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Annotated Table of Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 A Brief Recounting of the First Four Millennia of Testing
- Chapter 2 Why Tests Are so Widely Disliked
- Chapter 3 The Origins and Consequences of Mental Testing in the U.S. Military
- Chapter 4 Testing in Grades K-12
- Chapter 5 Licensing Examinations
- Chapter 6 Admission Testing for Higher Education
- Chapter 7 Tests Used for Merit-Based Scholarships
- Chapter 8 Using Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers: An Assessment of Value-Added Models
- Chapter 9 Dividing Test Scores into Subcomponents
- Chapter 10 On Cost Functions in Testing
- Chapter 11 Evidence in Science: Should We Use Data and What Data Can We Trust?
- Chapter 12 Three Cautionary Tales of Zombie Ideas about Testing
- Chapter 13 Coda
- References
- Index
Summary
Horace Mann can be credited with the beginning of accountability and high-stakes testing in K-12 education in the 1800s. This was also the beginning of test fraud. Terman later developed the National Intelligence tests for K-12, followed by the Stanford Achievement Tests and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Results of such tests have been used, unwisely, to drive school reform efforts. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Moynihan and Coleman reports in the 1960s, and A Nation at Risk in the 1980s continued to drive educational reform efforts such as No Child Left Behind, the Every Student Succeeds Act, and Race to the Top today. Using test scores to make decisions about hiring and firing of teachers and administrators is ill advised. Reform efforts over the past 60 years have not reduced the achievement gap. K-12 tests reveal societal, not educational shortcomings.
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- Testing and the Paradoxes of Fairness , pp. 35 - 47Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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