Summary
Highlights
Linda Darling-Hammond opens by questioning the audience's feelings about standardized tests, revealing a shared sentiment that they are a 'necessary evil' or a 'distraction from real learning.' She shares a personal anecdote about enjoying multiple-choice tests but emphasizes that, ironically, this skill is 'practically useless' in real life. Studies show no correlation between these scores and success later in life. Google, for instance, once used test scores for hiring but found them irrelevant to job performance; they now seek individuals with learning ability, problem-solving skills, and collaborative capacity.
The speaker highlights the increasing demand for higher-order thinking, complex communication, and problem-solving skills, while demand for routine skills (like those tested by traditional methods) has decreased due to outsourcing and digitization. She references research showing an exponential growth in global knowledge, making it impossible for education to focus on memorizing facts. Current students will need to solve problems with undiscovered knowledge and uninvented technologies, necessitating skills beyond selecting answers from a list.
Darling-Hammond presents an example from a California standardized test, demonstrating how it promotes rote memorization over critical thinking. She explains that federally mandated testing has increased by 300% since 2002 with the 'No Child Left Behind Act,' forcing schools to prioritize test scores or face sanctions. This pressure leads to 'teaching to the test,' undermining good teaching, increasing teacher burnout, and pushing out crucial subjects like science, social studies, art, and music, which are known to expand cognitive capacity.
The speaker points out that increased testing leads to greater fear and less joy in students, citing examples of children crying or throwing up due to test-related stress. This stress has led to a growing 'opt-out' movement among parents. Despite the extensive testing, U.S. scores on international assessments have declined, ranking between 21st and 32nd, especially in higher-order thinking skills, falling behind countries like Singapore, which had almost no education system in 1965.
Other countries, like Singapore, test less frequently and utilize open-ended essays, problem-solving, oral responses, and project-based assessments. Some U.S. schools are also adopting innovative approaches, such as graduation portfolios where students complete projects to a high standard, present them, and receive feedback. Students from these schools, even from high-poverty communities, attend and graduate college at significantly higher rates, attributing their success to the deep learning and resilience developed through these projects.
California is moving away from its old standardized tests, adopting new standards focused on higher-order thinking and fewer but deeper assessments aimed at improving schools rather than punishing them. New assessments involve complex tasks, such as advising a congressperson on a nuclear power plant, requiring research, source evaluation, and evidence-based recommendations. MIT and 800 other colleges now encourage portfolios for admissions. While there's a federal bill to reform 'No Child Left Behind,' only a few states might be allowed to innovate, raising concerns about the pace of change for others. The speaker concludes by emphasizing that the future depends on reclaiming education to foster creative problem-solvers and innovative leaders.