Testing in American Schools: Asking the Right Questions February 1992 OTA-SET-519 NTIS order #PB92-170091 Recommended Citation: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Testing in American Schools: Asking the Right Questions, OTA-SET-519 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, February 1992). Foreword Education is a primary concern for our country, and testing is a primary tool of education. No other country tests its school children with the frequency and seriousness that characterizes the United States. Once the province of classroom teachers, testing has also become an instrument of State and Federal policy. Over the past decade in particular, the desire of the Congress and State Legislatures to improve education and evaluate programs has substantiality intensified the amount and importance of testing. Because of these developments and in light of current research on thinking and learning, Congress asked OTA to provide a comprehensive report on educational testing, with emphasis on new approaches. Changing technology and new understanding of think ing and learning offer avenues for testing in different ways. These new approaches are attractive, but inevitably carry some drawbacks. Too often, testing is treated narrowly, rather than as a flexible tool to obtain information about important questions. In this report, OTA places testing in its historical and policy context, examines the reasons for testing and the ways it is done, and identifies particular ways Federal policy affects the picture, The report also explores new approaches to testing that derive from modem technology and cognitive research. The advisory panel, workshop participants, reviewers, and other contributors to this study were instrumental in defining the key issues and providing a range of perspectives on them. OTA thanks them for their commitment of energy and sense of purpose. Their participation does not necessarily represent endorsement of the contents of this report, for which OTA bears sole responsibility. u JOHN H. GIBBONS ///,., Testing in American Schools: Asking the Right Questions Advisory Panel Sheldon H. White, Pane/ Chair Professor of Psychology, Harvard University Joan Boykoff Baron Henry Levin Project Director Professor of Education and Economics Connecticut State Department of Education Stanford University Winston Brown Harold Miller Dean of Admissions Former Chairman Xavier University Houghton Mifflin co. Alan Campbell Richard J. Noeth The Wharton School Vice President for Field Services University of Pennsylvania Educational Testing Service l Matthew Caulfield Edward D. Roeber Deputy Commander for Warfighting Director, Education Assessment Center Marine Corps Combat Development Command Council of Chief State School Officers James Fallows Nancy Rus Washington Editor Director of Human Resources Planning The Atlantic and Research Motorola, Inc. Bert Green Professor of Psychology Cinthia Schuman The Johns Hopkins University Executive Director National Center for Fair & Open Testing H.D. Hoover Professor of Education Rita J. Sherbenou University of Iowa Director J The Winston School Sharon Johnson-Lewis Director, Office of Planning, Research, Jack Webber and Evaluation Sixth Grade Teacher Detroit Public Schools Samantha Smith Elementary School NOTE: OTA appreciates and is grateful for the valuable assistance and thoughtful critiques provided by the advisory panel members. The panel does not, however, necessarily approve, disapprove, or endorse this report. OTA assumes full responsibility for the report and the accuracy of its contents. iv Testing in American Schools: Asking the Right Questions OTA Project Staff John Andelin, Assistant Director, OTA Science, Information, and Natural Resources Division Nancy Carson, Program Manager Science, Education, and Transportation Michael J. Feuer, Project Director Kathleen Fulton, Senior Analyst Patricia Morison, Analyst David Wye, Analyst Stephen Garcia, Research Assistant George Branyan, Research Analyst Elizabeth Hirsch, Research Assistant Jamie Netter, Research Assistant Caryn Cherlin, Summer Intern Marsha Fenn, Technical Editor Gay Jackson, PC Specialist Tamara Cymanski, Administrative Secretary Contractors Douglas A. Archbald Robert L. Linn University of Delaware University of Colorado, Boulder C.V. Bunderson George F. Madaus The Institute for Computer Uses in Education Boston College Paul Burke Gail R. Meister Consultant Research for Better Schools Alan Collins and Jan Hawkins Ruth Mitchell and Amy Stempel Center for Children and Technology Council for Basic Education Bank Street College Nelson L. Noggle Larry Cuban Centers for the Advancement of Stanford University Educational Practices Thomas Kellaghan Andrew C. Porter St. Patricks College University of Wisconsin, Madison Dublin, Ireland Judah Schwartz and Katherine Viator Nancy Kober Harvard University Consultant Reviewers and Contributors Judith Alamprese Gerald Bracey William Cummings COSMOS Corp. Consultant Harvard Institute for International Development Joseph Anzek John Bransford Brunswick Acres School Learning Technology Center Susan Davis Kendall Park, New Jersey Vanderbilt University San Diego City School Board Pam Aschbacher Alfred Brennan Christopher Dede University of California at Los Angeles Riverside Publishing Co. George Mason University Walter Askin W. Ross Brewer Richard Devore California State University, Los Angeles Vermont Department of Education Educational Testing Service James Ayrer Daniel Broun Kevin Dopart Philadelphia School District Office of Technology Assessment Office of Technology Assessment Eva Baker Diane Brown Nancy Draper University of California at Los Angeles American Psychological Association Chinle School District Gail Barcelo Wallace Brown Steven Dunbar New Jersey Board of Education Arizona Department of Education University of Iowa Walter Bartman Clare Burstall E, Alden Dunham Walt Whitman High School National Foundation for Educational Carnegie Corp. of New York Bethesda, Maryland Research in England and Wales Mary Duru Ernest Bauer Paula Butterfield District of Columbia Public Schools School District #7 Oakland Michigan School District Lois Easton Bozeman, Montana Robert Bednarzik Arizona Department of Education U.S. Department of Labor Wayne Camara Max Eckstein American Psychological Association Grant Behnke Queens College San Diego City Schools Raymond Campeau City University of New York Bozeman Senior High School Dorinda Edmondson Randy Bernet Bozeman, Montana Educational Testing Service Office of Technology Assessment Dale Carlson Carol Edwards Sue Bennett California Department of Education California Department of Education Office of Technology Assessment Ruben Carriedo Donald Eklund Sue Betka San Diego City Schools U.S. Department of Education Association of American Publishers Linda Carstens Emerson Elliot Marilyn Binkley San Diego City Schools U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics Daryl Chubin Penelope Engel Diane Bishop Office of Technology Assessment Arizona Department of Education Educational Testing Service Stephen Clyman Thomas Fagan John Bledsoe National Board of Examiners Walter Johnson High School U.S. Department of Education Bethesda, Maryland Kathleen Connor Roger Farr Philadelphia Public Schools Phyllis Blumenfeld Indiana University Center for Research on Learning and John Cradler Frederick Finch Schooling Far West Laboratory Riverside Publishing Co. Sigmund BoloZ Stephanie Craib Tom Fitzgibbon Ganado Primary School Green Brook School Techne Group, Inc. Ganado, Arizona Elaine Craig Dexter Fletcher Norberto Bottani Center for Civic Education Institute for Defense Analyses Organisation for Economic Cooperation Calabasis, California and Development Wendell Fletcher James Crouse Office of Technology Assessment Gene Bottoms University of Delaware Southern Regional Education Board Geoffrey Fletcher Limping He Walter McDonald Texas Education Agency Chinese Embassy Educational Testing Service Washington, DC Jack Foster Michael Meagher Education and Humanities Cabinet, Steve Heyneman Longfellow Elementary School Kentucky World Bank Bozeman, Montana Joy Frechtling W. John Higham William Mehrens Montgomery County Public Schools, New York State Education Department Michigan State University Maryland Patricia Holliday Harry Miller John Fremer Deans School New England Telephone Educational Testing Service Monmouth Junction, New Jersey Chip Moore Susan Fuhrman Shinichiro Horie Office of Technology Assessment Rutgers University Japanese Embassy Richard Murnane Washington, DC Louis Gappmayer Harvard University Bozeman Senior High School Jerry Hume Joseph S. Murphy Bozeman, Montana Basic American Foods City University of New York Howard Gardner Michael Katz V. Nebyvaev Harvard University University of Pennsylvania Embassy of the U.S.S.R. Robert Glaser Michael Kean David Niguidula University of Pittsburgh CTB MacMillan/McGraw Hill Brown University Alan Glenn E.W. Kelly Harold Noah University of Washington Cornell University State University of New York, Buffalo Susan Goldman Jeff Kenney Nelson Noggle Learning Technology Center National Council of Architectural Arizona State University Vanderbilt University Registration Boards Desmond Nuttall Steve German G. Gage Kingsbury London School of Economics & Political U.S. Department of Education Portland Public Schools, Oregon Science Jim Greeno David Kirp John O’Neill Stanford University University of California, Berkeley National Computer Systems Robert Guion Daniel Koretz James Olsen Consulting Psychologist