Testing
"Kill The Messenger"
Executive Summary
June 30, 2004
"Kill the Messenger"
Booklet is Designed to Dispel Myths about Standardized
Testing
WASHINGTON – The Test Committee of the Association of American Publishers has released a new booklet, "Kill the Messenger: The War Against Standardized Testing," as part of AAP's continuing efforts to build awareness and support for education assessment in today's K-12 classrooms.
The booklet is an executive summary of "Kill the Messenger," a book by Richard P. Phelps, a national authority on educational testing and measurement. Transaction Publishers of Somerset, NJ, published the book in 2003.
The purpose of the summary is to help policy makers and the public understand the necessary and proper role of standardized tests in our nation's schools," said Steve Driesler, executive director of AAP's School Division.
"Despite the importance of testing, there is an increasing tendency to blame the test if you don't like the results," Driesler said. "In other words, it is often easier to kill the messenger than fix the underlying problem revealed by the test. However, if our nation is truly going to close the achievement gap as required by the No Child Left Behind Act, we need to hear – not kill – the messenger."
"Kill the Messenger" reminds us that testing is primarily about information. Without the data provided by fair, reliable, and valid tests we – students, parents, teachers, policy makers, and researchers – would lack the ability to determine whether our schools and children are making the grade.
Phelps argues that standardized tests are the best measures we have of student performance. "Usually, they do it more reliably, more accurately, more objectively, and less expensively than the alternatives. Why be opposed to information? The reason is usually this: because one does not want the results known."
"Kill the Messenger" dispels a number of myths regarding standardized testing. For example:
Myth: There is too much testing in U.S. Schools.
Reality: "Most foreign observers would likely be confused or bemused
by the controversy over external, high-stakes standardized testing
in the United States… If anything, the United States, in its
relative paucity of testing, exit, and entrance requirements, is the
odd country out. Most standardized tests in other countries are fully
high stakes – students who do not pass the examinations are denied
a diploma, entry to the next level of education, or entry to the school
or university of their choice," Phelps writes.
Myth: The public is opposed to standardized testing.
Reality: "The U.S. public has often been asked how it feels about
testing. The margins in favor have typically been huge, on the order
of 70-point spreads between the percentage in favor of more testing
and the percentage against. Testing's popularity remains steadfast
today, despite an onslaught of one-sided media coverage, and despite
the efforts of testing opponents (and naive or sympathetic journalists)
to drum up a 'backlash,'" according to "Kill the Messenger."
Myth: "Teaching to the test" does not benefit students.
Reality: "Testing opponents repeatedly assert that teachers will
teach the material that will be on a test. But, if the tests are high-stakes,
and they are kept behind lock and key until the day of the test administration,
how can teachers know what material will be on the test, except in
the most general terms? Teachers always "teach to" something. If they
are not teaching a required curriculum matched to a standardized test,
what are they teaching?" Phelps writes.
The executive summary is one of a number of resources AAP's School Division makes available regarding testing and instructional materials. For more information, visit www.publishers.org
Copies of the AAP's executive summary can be downloaded at the link provided on this website.Printed copiesare available upon request. Please contact Lydia Sutton at (202) 220-4547.Information about quantity discounts of Kill the Messenger is available from: Special Orders Department, Transaction Publishers Distribution, 390 Campus Drive, Somerset, NJ 08854 www.transactionpub.com
For more information contact:
Lydia Sutton
Ph: 202-220-4547
Email: lsutton@publishers.org