Anne Lee
Traditionally schools test low-level thinking skills and fact-based knowledge, the kind of learning that traditionally prepared individuals for rote factory work. Our rapidly changing economy requires new skills: flexibility, quick learning, critical thinking, and problem solving. Theodore Hershberg, professor of public policy and history at the University of Pennsylvania writes that "Our schools always did one thing well: They educated the top fifth of their students. The performance of the remaining 80 percent didn't matter because upon leaving school they entered a robust manufacturing economy . . . But those days are gone and are never coming back . . .our schools must now educate all our children to a level never required before." A January, 1998 report, Education and Training for America's Future released by the Washington-based National Association of Manufacturers, agrees with Dr. Hershberg, when it states "the capabilities of high school students are not keeping up with the skill requirements of manufacturers."
Innovative programs and strategies such as school-to-work, are addressing the demands for these new skills, and meeting with great success for students (see School-to-Work Success Story). However, these skills are not easily assessed on a multiple choice test. Patricia W. Mc Neil, assistant secretary for the office of Vocational and Adult Education, Department of Education concludes that no matter how innovative the programs may be, they won't get much respect unless they help students score higher on standardized tests. She went on to say that "the problem we're facing is that the most efficient - if not effective- instrument that most communities have for measuring success is the standardized test."
If "what you test is what you get" then it appears we need to make changes in the way we measure student performance. Education reformers suggest that what is needed are tests worth "teaching to." The debate continues as states struggle with what students should know and should be able to do. Dr. Hershberg reminds us that this is an urgent issue ". . . in the case of educational standards, government will fail America if it delays, because it takes a generation to educate a labor force."
In his book Measuring Up: Standards, Assessment, and School Reform, author Robert Rodman reminds us that test results have been used to bolster school reform for one hundred and fifty years. He says that the accurate reporting of results to the public is often questionable. It may suffer from what he terms as the "Lake Wobegon effect," named after the humorist Garrison Keillor's fictional town where "all the women are strong, all the men good looking and all the children are above average." A child's score on a standardized test is not based on a comparison with other students who took the test that year. Rodman states that "If this were the case then only half the test-takers could indeed be above average. Rather, the test scores are based on comparisons with a norm group of children-a group that may have taken the tests as many as seven years before." Another issue is how average is average? What if the norm group consists of poor performers? While standardized tests make classifying and quantifying students easier - all that a student knows is reduced to one number. Some educators also contend that this type of testing is culturally biased favoring the white middle-class student.
SCHOOL-TO-WORK SUCCESS STORY
Studies show that school-to-work-strategies that include integration of academic and vocational education, student internships, and linkages between secondary and postsecondary schools, are successful. In a recent study reported in Education Week, July 1998, Test Scores Loom Over School-to-Work Programs, graduates of ProTech, a school-to-work program in a Boston public school "were more likely to attend college, earn a degree, and receive higher wages than graduates who did not participate in the program." A significant finding in this study is that "79% of black ProTech graduates attended college right after high school, compared with 53 percent of black students in the comparison group. Nationally, 51 percent of black students attend college right out of high school." The study was produced by Boston Private Industry Council and Jobs for the Future, a not-for-profit group based in Boston.
ACADEMIC AND INDUSTRY STANDARDS AND ASSESSMENT
In 1990 the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act (Perkins II) required vocational education programs to provide "strong experience in and understanding of all aspects of the industry students are preparing to enter, including planning, finance, management, technical and production skills, underlying principles of technology, community issues, labor issues, and health, safety and environment." This directive encouraged the development of integrated academic and industry standards. In 1994, three pieces of legislation were passed that further promoted the development of voluntary systems of national academic and industry skill standards and assessments. the legislation included: School-to-work Opportunities Act, Goals 2000:Educate America Act, and Improving America's Schools Act.
The California Department of Education is active in developing a comprehensive
system of standards in collaboration with industry, education, state agencies,
and business representatives.