"To tell the truth about standardized tests," Kendi said, "is to tell the story of the eugenicists who created and popularized these tests in the United States more than a century ago."Īs the U.S. “Education reformists, civil rights organizations, and all who are concerned with racial justice in education need to advocate for assessment tools that don’t replicate racial and economic inequality.” Testing Pioneer – and Eugenicist “While much has been said about the racial achievement gap as a civil rights issue, more attention needs to be paid to the measurement tools used to define that gap,” explains Young Wan Choi, manager of performance assessments for the Oakland Unified school District in Oakland, CA. Standardized tests, however, have never been accurate and reliable measures of student learning and, one year into a pandemic, would be even less so now. Yet some organizations insist on more testing, arguing that the data will expose the gaps where support and resources should be directed. "Standardized tests have become the most effective racist weapon ever devised to objectively degrade Black and Brown minds and legally exclude their bodies from prestigious schools." Kendi of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at Boston University and author of How to be an Antiracist said in October 2020. "We still think there’s something wrong with the kids rather than recognizing their something wrong with the tests," Ibram X. Decades of research demonstrate that Black, Latin(o/a/x), and Native students, as well as students from some Asian groups, experience bias from standardized tests administered from early childhood through college. Many of these same communities have suffered the most from high-stakes testing. Since their inception almost a century ago, the tests have been instruments of racism and a biased system. With more members like you, NEA will have an even stronger voice to advocate for racial and social justice and impact meaningful change for the lives of students and educators.Įducators across the country criticized the decision, saying the idea that students should be forced to take any sort of standardized test this year is incomprehensible. The priority right now should be on strengthening instruction and support for students and families in communities most traumatized by the impact of the coronavirus.
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