In a recent article by Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times, “Trying to Find a Measure for How Well Colleges Do,” we are beginning to see what might be the next chapter in the near obsessive effort to measure the performance of education: this time with colleges being in the cross hairs. Mr. Pérez-Peña explains, “There is no comparable trove of public data for judging and comparing colleges. Pieces of such a system may be taking shape, however, with several kinds of national assessments — including, most controversially, standardized tests — gaining traction in recent years. More than 1,000 colleges may be using at least one of them.” It seems that colleges are again being pressured to measure quality, which if they succumb, will unleash a cottage industry of educational wonks and their attending consultancies and think tanks to first interpret, and then recommend solutions for improving what the data says is in need of improvement. Tragically though, and I hope I am wrong, it seems that we are about to usher in the period of endless reform in college education with the nebulous goal of improving the college teaching experience.
The one view is that data improves educational performance: “In January, the New Leadership Alliance released guidelines calling on colleges to systematically ‘gather evidence of student learning’ — though not explicitly advocating standardized tests — and release the results. The report was endorsed by several major organizations of colleges and universities.” The last thing we need is more standardized tests in an already existing sea of standardized tests; standardized tests being the rallying cry of educational reformists and their political patrons, in need of palatable issue for the perpetual campaign cycle. More standardized tests, more studies, more reforms, more tests…you get the gist. Of course in the end, the data will show incremental improvement that rises and falls, depending on circumstances that cannot be tested in the first place. Now, teaching to the test, given the intense pressure to improve data driven performance, will become common practice at a college near you. Meanwhile, testing companies (disguised as not-for-profits) and the subsequent league of tutors will be unleashed on students and families with the end result being a further inflation of an already over-inflated cost of a college education.
The pressure to improve test scores–a similar refrain in the K-12 system–will lead to the usual attempts to influence, AKA manipulation of both the testing process and published data. “I’d love for all the data to be public,” said Jennifer Carney, Director of Program Evaluation at the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which conducts education research. But, she added, that would inevitably lead to some colleges manipulating the figures in pursuit of a higher standing, just as some have done with existing ranking systems.” Colleges will spend more time trying to influence their rankings, more then they already do, with the outcome being less focus on students, and possibly even an at an additional cost to colleges that we all know will eventually be passed on to students and their families.
As I have talked about in an earlier post, improving the educational experience at all levels is easier then it seems. Nothing was more frustrating during my near decade in the classroom then having to teach to the test, even though I knew there was no cookie-cutter student model where all learn the same thing at the same time; if only it could be that easy. There is no one universal learning style nor one universal student personality. Teaching 150 students (teenagers at that) a day, with all the trials and tribulations our youth face everyday is a Herculean task for anyone. Students that want to learn, do. Teachers that know how to effectively teach, do. Let’s for a change give credit to students, their parents, the communities where they live, and the teachers and schools that work tirelessly to achieve the best overall quality educational outcome they can; instead of this fixation on perpetual reform that–like the war on drugs–never seems to end. What defines quality in education will always remain subjective, and thus remain illusive to measurement using standardized testing. Let’s not further politicize college education like we tragically have the K-12 system, with the outcome being very little improvement in educational outcomes for the nation as a whole. Let’s instead address the inflation rise in overall college costs that is more of a threat to our way of life, than trying to force objectivity onto what has historically been the subjective process of learning.
Although data can contribute to further one’s understanding, the processes used (to gather, organize, and disseminate data) can be fraught–as you know from experience–with misinterpretations and subsequently, inadequate solution(s) to a highly complex and ever-dynamic concern of increasing knowledge among our current & future generation of students.
With universities, like Harvard, MIT and Stanford, offering online courses to the general public, these efforts will do more to improve quality of learning and teaching techniques, than standardized testing. Actual, real-time data and feedback in a democratic, egalitarian environment, as any motivated learner can attend the online challenge of a Harvard, MIT or Stanford course has greater potential, than a static, one time snapshot of an already sorted (i.e. had to meet a minimum college admissions standard) data pool.