Description
Book SynopsisExploring the political struggles inspired by mass educational tests, McDonnell analyzes the design and implementation of statewide testing in California, Kentucky, and North Carolina in the 1990s. McDonnell draws lessons from these stories for the federal No Child Left Behind act, with its sweeping directives for high-stakes testing.
Trade ReviewThis book is the most penetrating analysis in recent history of how testing politics operates. It is a rare combination of testing, concepts, instruction, conflicting values, and hardball political strategies. It provides a new type of policy instrument--hortatory policy--for scholars and practitioners to use. -- Michael Kirst, Stanford University
Filled with colorful actors--from politicians agitating for school reform, to equally determined parents and teachers pushing back--this timely study reminds us that America's strident battle over standardized testing turns on deeply moral questions. How do we raise our children? What happens inside schools and communities when politicians sanctify official knowledge and routinize how we teach our children? Does testing impoverish the motivating spirit of classrooms, for kids and teachers alike? These questions can't be ignored after McDonnell shines a bright light on testing debate. -- Bruce Fuller, University of California, Berkeley
McDonnell masterfully moves back and forth between hortatory policy and student testing policy in a way that significantly illuminates both. Her volume makes an important contribution to the policy literature. It is well worth reading. -- Kenneth Rowe * Political Science Quarterly *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Tables and Figures 1. Testing from a Political Perspective 2. Persuasion as a Policy Instrument 3. The State Politics of Testing 4. Local Testing Controversies: The Case of CLAS 5. Testing and Teaching 6. Aligning Politics, Policy, and Practice Appendix: Sample Characteristics and Data Collection Instruments Notes References Index
