Examining Testing Policy in the United States: A Comparative Historical Analysis of National Testing for Accountability Debates and Intelligence Testing Debates

Abstract

Educational testing policies influence the type of education provided to school children, and communicate what society values. These policies originate from and promote a set of assumptions, beliefs, and values orientations. They are also designed to advance certain social and educational outcomes, and preferred types of educational experiences for school children. As lawmakers deliberate future testing policies in the United States, it is important that they understand the motivations and values behind testing policy proposals. This study explores the beliefs that drove accountability testing policy proposals. It employed a historical/ comparative analysis to compare the arguments from the accountability testing debates of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s with the arguments from the intelligence testing debates of the early 1920s, the 1970s, and mid-1990s in order to tease out the beliefs that drove these arguments. Issues around which the arguments revolved were examined to identify enduring themes that can inform future educational testing policy proposals. Six such themes emerged from this analysis. These included the following: 1) merit; 2) "race," class and educational equity; 3) the meaning of democracy; 4) the fundamental purpose of public education and desired educational experiences in the United States; 5) the role of science and ideology in policy making; and 6) the tendency to oversimplify. These themes and their implications for policy were discussed.