Advisory panel explores standardized college testing

Fabian Arzuaga News Editor

A commission ordered by the Bush administration has been exploring new methods to gauge the academic quality of colleges and universities. One of their more controversial ideas is the implementation of standardized testing as a means of assessing a school’s teaching ability.

Informally known as the Spellings’ Commission (named after U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings), it is chaired by business executive and former head of the Regents of the University of Texas Charles Miller. In a recent memorandum, Miller wrote that the government had the responsibility to explain to the public “what they are getting for their investment in a college education…particularly in the area of student learning.” In addition to improving the accreditation process, wrote Miller, another way of explaining this to the public would be through uniform testing.

While the Commission is only beginning to suggest testing as a possible assessment technique, they are being met with opposition.

“I’m completely opposed to Secretary Spellings’ ideas on this,” said College President Fran Fergusson in an e-mailed statement. “I’ve never been fond of the idea, since, especially in a liberal arts college, the proof of what has been learned unfolds over a lifetime, not in terms of some facts that can be immediately tested.”

Others similarly argue that no test is capable of such a monumental task. Referring to Vassar’s mission statement, Dean of Freshman Joanne Long questioned the ability of a test to assess “powers of reason, imagination, and expression,” or willingness to take “intellectual risks,” or understanding of the “relationships between people and their social and physical environment.”

Long added, “The whole notion of ‘standardization’ seems at odds with one of the goals of education as I see it—the development of an individual’s capacity for creative thinking.”

In his memorandum, Miller wrote, “There is gathering momentum for measuring through testing what students learn or what skills they acquire in college beyond a traditional certificate or degree.” He went on to say that the areas evaluated by a standard test would be critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving, and written communications.

Miller stressed that testing techniques have made leaps and bounds in recent years. He cited “promising new developments” in student testing designed by the Rand Corporation and the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Additionally, he wrote that the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education had developed a program for testing student learning in five states and that the “expansion of such efforts would be clearly feasible.”

However, according to Long, standardized testing is “only a piece of a broader movement of greater accountability and assessment,” and a college like Vassar already has assessment procedures. Vassar is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, which sends a team every ten years to review the quality of the College.

“The College writes a report, as does the Association team, talking about everything from athletics to the library,” said Long. According to their website, the peer-based Association is voluntary and non-governmental (msache.org). Accreditation is commonly understood as the way education institutions self-regulate by reviewing each other.

Registrar Dan Giannini said that colleges and universities have “little interest in standardized testing because that’s not what colleges do.” He added that colleges are under pressure to assess if they are meeting the education goals outlined in their mission statements. Since colleges often have different mission statesments, he added, universal standards would be difficult to enact.
But Giannini also said that, though it is unlikely, it is not unfathomable that higher education will introduce standardized testing as a means of assesment.

Fergusson said that the issue of testing is far from new. “The ‘assessment’ movement has been around for years,” she said. “I can remember talking about it in various public settings more than 20 years ago, even before I came to Vassar.” She noted that she has never been a supporter of such testing.

If such measures were ever put in place, Vassar would not be exempt because of its privately-owned status. Since private colleges must meet certain requirements to qualify for federal grants and financial aid, institutions like Vassar would have to comply.

The Spellings’ Commission has yet to make any formal recommendations, but is scheduled to submit a full report to Secretary Spellings on Aug. 1, 2006.