Testing and Social Studies in Capitalist Schooling

• Published in: Monthly review (New York. 1949) Vol. 67; no. 10; p. 51
• Main Authors: Cole-Malott, Donna-Marie, Malott, Curry
• Format: Journal Article Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Monthly Review Foundation, Inc 01.03.2016; Monthly Review Press
• Subjects: Accountability; Achievement tests; Capitalism; Children & youth; Core curriculum; Daughters; Education reform; Educational reform; Government regulation; High-stakes tests; Inequality; Influence; Intelligence; Labor unions; Laws, regulations and rules; Mathematics education; Mathematics teachers; Minority groups; Multicultural education; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Parents & parenting; Public schools; Reading; School closures; Schools; Scores; Social sciences; Social studies; Standardized tests; Student teacher relationship; Students; Study and teaching; Teachers; Tests, problems and exercises; War; White supremacists; White supremacy; Workers; World War I; United States; New York; United States > US
• DOI: 10.14452/MR-067-10-2016-03_5
• ISSN: 0027-0520

In a New York Times editorial on August 15, 2015, the editors, following the NAACP, cautioned that the movement for students to opt out of high-stakes standardized exams was detrimental to minority students and their communities. The rigorous accountability measures of high-stakes exams, it was claimed, compelled teachers and schools to do a better job educating traditionally oppressed students... Such views ignore the history of high-stakes testing, which has served to perpetuate class inequality and advance white supremacy since intelligence testing was developed during the First World War. More than anything else, standardized testing measures students' access to resources and proximity to dominant cultures, rather than innate ability or quality of teaching. The accountability movement has successfully exploited the existing inequalities of a white-supremacist, capitalist society to argue that high-stakes testing, one of its primary tools, is helping to overcome those same inequalities. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.