While I was reading about all the standardized testing being pioneered and abused by these well-intentioned psychologists, I
was reminded of my own experiences being categorized by standardized testing,
and how these tests still separate kids into "average" and "gifted."
The No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2001, and as a
result, I took my first state-standardized test, the Colorado Student
Assessment Program (CSAP) in 3rd grade. A few months after I took the CSAP,
I was taken out of class to take another test in the cafeteria with a couple
dozen other kids, not told why or what it was. The results of this mysterious
test caused a letter to be sent to my parents recommending that I be taken out
of my public elementary school and sent to a special academy for “gifted and
talented” students. I didn’t understand why I was being singled out to go to a
different school, and I begged my parents to let me stay in school with my
friends, which they did. (I turned out fine.)
Having taken so many other standardized tests since then, I
never thought much about that experience in 3rd grade until reading
this book. I was reminded of being eight years old, taking a test because I was told I had to, and then being categorized as deserving of special treatment and a better education than my friends. “Gifted and talented,” to me, connotes a natural knack for something. If
I had been raised differently, in a home without books, would my natural “gifts”
or “talents,” whatever those are, still exist? Say I’d been raised in a home
surrounded by music and instruments instead. Would I have an innate gift for the
violin, or just a lot of early exposure to it?
I looked up this school (Quest Academy in Aurora, Colorado)
on greatschools.com, and read the reviews. One mother said she’d had a great
experience with her gifted daughter in the school, but that “Sadly my son has
not tested gifted so we haven't been able to get him in Quest and are having to
try one of the "regular" APS middle schools. We hope for the best.” Imagine
being that kid doomed to “regular” school, with a sigh and a hope for the best, while his sister enjoys a five-star
education at one of the best schools in the state. If we continue to trust the almighty Test to determine intellectual worth, then these standardized tests will continue to foresee our potentials and provide self-fulfilling prophecies before we’re even old enough to
understand why.
I myself was also reviewing my own memories on the subject of testing. I tested for the Gifted Program in high school in New Mexico, but Connecticut did not have such a program (Honors only where I lived). This difference has made me curious ever since about it. What separates New Mexico from Connecticut? What would allow such resources to be provided to the young here, and not there? And I found the answer: Money. This was my first real reflection on the subject of testing. And all I have discovered thus far is that testing was created to emphasize differences in people, not to bring people closer together. Ever since, all I can think about is how any state or program testing symbolizes some sort of glorious "pride" for the creator. They must have felt like Gods back then, using a weapon (the test) to ensure that America would be saved. No wonder we teach to the test!
ReplyDeleteWhile intelligence is clearly not as black and white as such testing might imply, I believe that it is very possible to work around it and avoid many of the imprecise conclusions and the unfitting reactions that come with them. I hate to cite a personal experience as being representative of an entire population, but if it happened to me isn't there greater reason to believe it happens to others as well? When I was in fifth grade, I tested for the gifted program at my elementary school however fell short of the requirement. The teacher knew how much I wanted to join Project Ideal (P.I.) and she ended up sitting me down for a series of questions (i.e. Do you like poetry? How does drawing make you feel?) to see if she could find something that the test had missed. I realize now that this was probably a bunch of bologna; she only asked me those questions to appear systematic - like the test. In any case, I was admitted into P.I. and know that I have benefited tremendously from my participation in program which was made possible by a very unstandardized measure. My point is that (some) people are aware on many levels that statistical analysis cannot provide all of the answers to some very human questions.
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