'Trust Us' Won't Cut it Anymore
Reading Kevin Carey's article, while interesting, nearly made me spit blood. I have never been a proponent of standardized testing. I don't think that it shows real growth, takes into account learning disabilities, and gives conclusive evidence of learning. I, personally, feel that standardized tests take the soul out of education. And here Carey is suggesting that they need to be implemented at the collegiate level.
He cites a study done by Richard Arum from New York University and Josipa Roksa from the University of Virginia. The study, recently published in Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (University of Chicago Press), followed a couple thousand students and periodically administered the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). They found at after four years of college thirty-six percent of the students had made no gains. Carey makes the sweeping generalization that the students learned nothing!
