Debunking SBAC Rationales

1.  Smarter Balanced Tests are Better than old OAKS.

You've probably heard it: the old standards and OAKS test relied on rote memorization but the Common Core and SBAC encourage "deeper" thinking.  Interestingly, this latter claim is based on the observation that there are fewer Common Core standards than before.  Some critics have pointed out that in many cases, multiple standards have just been condensed into one.  But even if we accept that the Common Core itself might encourage deeper thinking, the idea that the SBAC remedies past problems with the OAKS because it does not rely solely on multiple choice questions is deeply flawed.  First, SBAC still has a substantial multiple choice portion, so that problem has not been eliminated.  Second, the written portion of the SBAC introduces new levels of complication.  For example, who will grade the written sections?  It will take thousands of people to score these items and each person will have different ways of scoring.  Inter-rater reliability is difficult to establish and requires levels of quality control to verify.  In fact, not relying on multiple choice items lessens our ability to compare scores, a major justification for imposing interstate testing in the first place.

2.  We need SBAC as a measure of how our educational system is doing.

Well, no, we don't.  In fact, the instrument that has been used since the 1970s is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which provides us with longitudinal data on how our children are progressing.  The NAEP does not suffer from the myriad of flaws extant in the SBAC (or PARCC).  For one, it is not given to all students every year.  This eliminates several problems.  Because it does not require all students to take the test every year, there is no "teaching to the test" effect.  Also, all students and schools do not have to shut down for two to three weeks for the administration of the test. We do not need SBAC to serve a purpose already better served by NAEP.

3.  We need SBAC as an accountability check on teachers so we can improve instruction.

In fact, test-based accountability has been in effect since the passage of No Child Left Behind NCLB in 2001.  After 14 years, this policy has failed to show growth in student learning.  NAEP high school scores were higher before NCLB than they are now.  Test-based accountability has failed to achieve what it promised.  SBAC only doubles down on a failed policy.  Besides, using a test in ways other than for what it was designed violates the criteria for consequential validity.  In the end, such invalid use introduces perversions such as "teaching to the test" and gaming of statistics.  What is then measured is not student progress, but the ability of the educational system to obtain higher scores on a particular test. That explains why state test scores rose in the last decade while NAEP and PISA scores did not.

4.  We need SBAC to provide detailed information to parents about their children's educational progress.

SBAC only provides information on very narrow constructs within the subjects of math and reading.  This in no way provides a detailed picture of a student's overall ability or progress.  A test score represents only a snapshot of a student at a specific time.  Even if it did provide parents with reliable information on that construct, which it likely does, it would only encourage the parent and possibly teachers to focus even more on that narrow construct to the detriment of the student's actual interests and talents.  The narrow constructs tested by SBAC are not a "career readiness" measure but more of a college placement test.  Not all young people plan to attend a four year college.  Many very well-paid positions today only require a technical or vocational certificate. SBAC does not measure readiness for these types of jobs.

5.  SBAC will provide teachers with information about students that can help guide instruction.

In fact, no.  SBAC results come out late in the year or even after school has let out for summer.  Teachers rely on timely information that they can act on immediately.  Test scores that arrive over the summer can actually lead to false expectations.  As a teacher myself, I never rely solely on a test score but on a combination of observations.  Test scores that come to me from the year before are of little use until I actually know a student and get an idea of what their level is.  

There are probably more propaganda points to pick on.  But I will stop here. Please leave comments!