Book review: The tyranny of educational testing and the ethics of responsibility

Journal of Literacy Research, Sep 1999 by Paris, Scott G, Paris, Alison H, Carpenter, Robert D

In chapter nine, Murphy broadens the perspective to consider reformation in reading, and the metaphor is apt because the catholic and iconoclastic views of standardized testing need a reformation. She rails against the imposition of assessment in any form on students and teachers and reminds readers that any form of assessment must be considered from two vantage points - interpretation and consequences of the collected evidence. These operate most effectively at decentralized levels of assessment, yet she does not discuss local reforms using portfolios and alternative assessments that might bolster the case for reform (e.g., Paris & Ayres, 1994; Valencia, Hiebert, & Afflerbach,1994). Instead, she examines the problems and prospects of statewide reforms with examples of Kentucky and Vermont, and, like the previous chapters, concludes that even well-intended reforms are compromised and have problems with interpretive and consequential validity.

Readers who hope and expect solutions to the conundrums presented in the first nine chapters will be disappointed because the concluding chapter raises the rhetorical question, "What really matters in reading assessment?" Murphy argues for multiple assessments of reading and a socially negotiated interpretation of the evidence about children's reading. The evidence should be centered on the child's abilities and needs rather than the administrative need for data. Although the chapter provides some hope for future improvement in reading assessment, the solution is not simply designing a better test. Murphy suggests that revisioning reading assessment is so radical that it requires revisioning schooling. Certainly the larger ideological questions are important, but the book ends without offering tangible solutions to the problems of reading assessment that the authors have presented.

There is a great deal of passion in this book and an equal amount of worthy ideas. Behind the vitriolic criticisms of any assessment that smacks of psychology or quantitative methodology are fundamental conceptual and practical questions about the validity and impact of testing that should be ethical imperatives for all educators. The authors write with acumen and candor about the dangers of over-testing and mis-testing of children in the name of reading assessment. The consequences of these practices are frightening, and the authors want to startle the citizenry to action. When readers finish this book, they might feel outraged and ask, "What can I do?" and the authors would be pleased.

REFERENCES

Bennett, W (1998). The death of outrage: Bill Clinton and the assault on American ideals. New York: The Free Press.

Linn, R.L., Baker, E.L., & Dunbar, S.B. (1991). Complex, performance-based

assessment: Expectations and validation criteria. Educational Researcher, 20 (8), 15-21.

Messick, S. (1988). The once and future issues of validity: Assessing the meaning and consequences of measurement. In H. Wainer & H.I. Braun (Eds.), Test validity (pp. 33-45). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.