A Firm Commitment to Mediocrity in Madison Public Schools

By George Lightbourn

We now have a poster boy for all of the teachers who blanch at the notion of accountability.  His name is David Wasserman, a teacher at Sennett Middle School on Madison’s far east side.  It seems that David has a moral objection to the concept of standardized tests, the kind that are required by state and federal law.  So David, being the principled guy that he is, refused to administer the test to eighth graders.  He left it to his colleagues to give the test.  Apparently they don’t share David’s misgivings.

Most of us are scratching our heads and wondering, what is the big deal with standardized tests?  We have all taken some type of standardized test since we were old enough to know the difference between a crayon and a number two pencil.  Do David and his colleagues think that they should only teach what is likely to be on the test?  Of course not - not if they are good teachers.  But, see we do expect that children will learn the essentials: reading, math, science, social studies.  We also see that students need to be taught to think critically, to be able to problem solve, to work in teams, etc.  And yes, we want out children to be inspired to be innovative and to color outside the lines.  We expect teachers to do all of that, but at a minimum, we expect they will equip our children with a strong foundation in the essential elements of learning.

Alfie Kohn, one of the loudest critics of standardized testing on the national scene, notes that standardized tests only measure superficial thinking.  You see, Alfie and others see little benefit in knowing that students are actually learning fractions, and being taught to read and to understand what they are reading.  While Alfie and David Wasserman object to the superficiality of standardized tests, the public sees a generation of cashiers who cannot make change and thousands of young people who don’t see the big deal that they don’t know the difference between Austria and Australia. 

(Warning: Alfie and David probably want to skip the next paragraph.)  Those of us who were taught the basics as well as how to think critically understand that testing does indeed have an important role to play in education.  We have witnessed the standing of American children sliding down the ladder when measured against children in other nations. We also see that those nations that are climbing over American children nearly all have educational systems built around testing.  One international test has American eighth graders scoring below twenty-seven other countries in math.  Most of those nations above us have high stakes tests that determine a child’s future.  They would undoubtedly find America’s preoccupation with testing somewhat amusing.

We can only be left to believe that David’s resistance to standardized testing is due to the fact that he does not want to reveal how well he is building the foundation under his students.  He and Alfie will do whatever it takes to squelch accountability.

And we learn something else about David.  His protest turned out to be quite feeble.  As soon as he discovered that his stance against standardized testing would have consequences - he could lose his job – he agreed to hustle back into the classroom and give that test he found so misguided.  He said he didn’t want to lose his health insurance.  It turns out that he wasn’t standing on some noble principle.  He was taking an hour off.

To David I would say, just do the job you were hired to do, the one attached to the health insurance benefits.  Get your students ready for the standardized tests and also teach them how to solve problems and think creatively.  But you might think about having one of your colleagues handle the class when it comes time to teaching students about the American tradition of protest and principles.