ABSTRACT
Teacher testing as it is currently construed is a symptom of what is wrong with U.S. public education policy. The fervor for ever higher stakes associated with teacher testing illustrates how deeply entrenched a wrong-headed approach can become. With the inception of Title II of the Higher Education Act (Public Law 105-244), the federal government has begun a process of employing such tests not only for entry to the classroom by individuals, but also for determining which institutions of higher education will have the right to prepare candidates for licensure. (This latter goal would be achieved by restricting the access of colleges and universities to federal education funding, such as student loans.) The No Child Left Behind Act in its definition and requirement of “highly qualified teachers” has extended the central function of testing in licensure. The evolution of standardized testing in American society has been documented extensively, most notably in None of the above (Owen, 1985) and more recently in The big test (Lemann, 1999). While they emerged from legitimate origins and egalitarian motives, the uses of these tests drifted into increasingly dangerous political waters. In the United States, punitive and unscientific methods of evaluation are reaching their apotheosis in the current practice of highstakes K-12 student and teacher testing, with consequences that affect the foundations of public education.
