Article of the Week # 3 "Standardized tests for everyone? In the Internet age, that’s the wrong answer."

Cathy N. Davidson, Professor at Duke University and author of Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn expresses her concern towards the institutions of education and the manner in which students are tested.  In 1914 because of the growing number of students for whom a two year education was required, the system of schooling needed to be refined.  Frederick J. Kelly invented the Kansas Silent Reading Test, also called the “item-response” or “bubble” test so students could be educated and then tested quickly and efficiently. Even though we are living in an internet age, “students can’t escape Kelly’s century old invention (1). This type of testing was never intended to become so widespread, however today, its has been adopted as the footing for the SAT and exams in high school, graduate and professional schools. 

The context is represented through the history of the multiple choice testing.   Bubble tests were meant for the industrial age when efficiency was key, but now that were are living in an age modeled on technology, Davidson can further support her purpose to voice concern that institutions should be testing to prepare students for the future and not the past.   Davidson argues that the educational system used today was “designed for the industrial age, modeled on mass production and designed for efficiency, not for high standards” (2).  She believe that because we are living in a digital world, it is of ample importance to change the way in which learning is assessed.

This piece was written for teachers, professors, et cetera, involved in any educational institution as it questions the significance of the popularly given multiple choice test.

Davidson organized her piece with the classical model: introduction, narration with background information on the test and its inventor and confirmation through proof from statistics and examples. She refuted her argument by addressing at the beginning of the text that standardized tests do serve as a way to measure success and concludes with an obvious appeal to pathos stating, “it’s not as simple as filling in the bubbles” (3).

I certainly feel that Davidson had a clever argument, however, she did not support it well.  She never clearly defined the significance of the “internet age” on education and so I never quite understood why teaching about the web in school would be so important.   Her diction kept me engaged, but after reading I realized much of the article was redundant.  Therefore, I do not feel like her purpose was accomplished.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/standardized-tests-for-everyone-in-the-internet-age-thats-the-wrong-answer/2011/09/21/gIQA7SZwqK_story_1.html