In today’s online version of the Chronicle of Higher Education, four views regarding the “future of the liberal arts” are presented. While not intending to pick on Martha Nussbaum’s “The Liberal Arts Are Not Elitist” — for in spirit we share a common concern — the piece does nonetheless represent some perennial problems in how public discourse conceptualizes education. As an illustration of these problems I examine some of the assumptions and features of the essay. Nussbaum begins by warning of a crisis in education, a crisis rooted in the quest for national profit or economic gain (interestingly enough this point is made without reference to the dramatic...
In corresponding with Cassiodorus about my book, the question of social change took center stage. When you argue for social change you inevitably come up against the claims of “realism” — we can’t change this or that because to do so would be “unrealistic.” This is the argument typically favored by the incrementalists: “since we can’t change society as a whole,” they say, “let’s...
PRESS RELEASE: ‘Everyone Wins’ ignores factors besides competition to explain marginally improved public school achievement in NYC November 17, 2009 Contact: Patrick McEwan, (781) 283-2987; (email) pmcewan@wellesley.edu Gary Miron, (269) 599-7965; (email) gary.miron@wmich.edu TEMPE, Ariz. and BOULDER, Colo. (November 17, 2009) — A report released three weeks ago looked at the competition effects of New York City’s charter schools,...
In a recent discussion of my book, A Measure of Failure, the typical argument against any critique of standardized testing was issued in response to a favorable review of the book’s main points. In the comments we read: “A math test, such as the math portion of the SAT for instance, most certainly measures a student’s ability to do the math...
The February issue of Counseling Today carries a review of my book by Aaron W. Hughey, professor of counseling and student affairs, Western Kentucky University. The essay begins: “True or false: Proponents of standardized testing are, unintentionally or otherwise, pushing an agenda that intrinsically advocates racism and socioeconomic oppression. Intrigued? Then read on. It really is an understatement to claim that standardized testing permeates...
Democracy Now! offers a summary of actions during the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. “Students and teachers held hundreds of demonstrations on Thursday as part of the National Day...
Much is now being made of the finalists for the first round of Race to the Top funds. To his credit, AEI’s Fred...
As I read Cohen and Moffitt’s, The Ordeal of Equality, I could not help but make some connections to a recent
The White House Office of the Press Secretary November 23, 2009 South Court Auditorium, Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. I am extraordinarily excited to have you...
Inside Higher Ed reports that a conference organized by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) yesterday sought to define accountability...
The White House: Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release November 04, 2009 James C. Wright Middle School, Madison, Wisconsin 1:40 P.M. CST THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Hello, Madison!...
“Both original and provocative, A Measure of Failure is a compelling account of the historical and contemporary relationship between standardized testing in education and processes of state formation.”
— Thomas C. Pedroni, author of Market Movements: African American Involvement in School Voucher Reform
"While most school-based administrators are daily affected by state driven accountability-testing regimes, Garrison takes the time to go back and explore the origins of the rise of measurement in education. The Latin term, deus ex machina, often represents a technological sleight of hand used by playwrights to extricate actors and scripts out of sticky positions...The point being made by Garrison, although not in these words, is that the community has been conned by the deus ex machina, an implied precision and purpose, which is not what it seems. I enjoyed reading this book, twice."
— Neil MacNeill, Educational Leadership, Curtin University of Technology, Austraila
"By most accounts, a majority of the current generation of administrators and legislators has unwittingly bought into the mythology of standardized testing — which is why "A Measure of Failure" will be required reading in my graduate testing and assessment class next semester. Maybe, just maybe, we can prevent the next generation from succumbing to the same delusions.
— Aaron W. Hughey, Department of Counseling and Student Affairs, Western Kentucky University