No Excuses: Standardized Tests are Not Worthless or "Racially Biased" - 25 Nov 2003
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...Two co-authors and experts on public education are attempting to debunk the notion that standardized tests are worthless and "racially biased." In their new book, No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning, Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom argue that major achievement tests do matter and are not racially or culturally biased, as some claim. Mrs. Thernstrom, a member of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, says test scores tell educators what they must know in order to have any hope of reforming education. "To attack test scores," she says, "is to be attacking the messenger -- you know -- kill the messenger if it's bad news." She says these test scores assess the skills and knowledge of students and help determine whether the kids are going to do well in college or in the workplace. Thernstrom believes many parents, educators and students have resorted to attacking test scores because they are uncomfortable being confronted with the evidence of a "glaring racial gap in skills." [Jim Brown] |