Book review: Garrison, Mark J. A Measure of Failure: The Political Origins of Standardized Testing. Albany NY: SUNY Press, 2009. 140 pages.
Essentially Garrison’s book critiques standardized testing in the public schools as a power trip — what type of power trip a particular test is for, Garrison argues, depends upon the standards which are erected and the purposes to which the final scores on the tests are used. It is argued, then, that standardized tests have had different purposes in different historical periods. The high-stakes testing regime of the No Child Left Behind Act (of the Bush administration) is argued to be destructive (in this regard) of public schooling in general.
(Crossposted at Orange)