[Susan notes: You can use this letter for talking points against National Standards as well as high-stakes testing.]
Submitted to Boston Globe but not published
09/10/2009
SCIENCE AND MCAS
Real learning lost in chase for test scores
CERTAINLY ALL our students need a sound scientific education if they
are to understand the world around them and the effects of technology
on their lives ("Science MCAS stymies many," Page A1, Sept. 3). But
the current state policy, which focuses on chasing an arbitrary score
on a standardized science test, derails efforts to engage students in
the processes and prospects of science and technology.
Scientific achievement is not standardized. The natural world is
diverse, and productive human inquiry takes many forms. The chemistry
needed to synthesize antibiotics is different from that used to assess
their effects on bacteria. Understanding glacial motions requires
different mathematics than that used to calculate asteroid
trajectories. Scientific advances depend on nurturing the full
spectrum of human intellectual diversity.
That is not what's happening. Under current education policy, hands-on
experience-based learning has been replaced by a "What's the right
answer?" syndrome. As always, test scores tell us a great deal about
disparities in students’ wealth and backgrounds, but little about how
to help all students channel their curiosity about the natural world
into productive scientific work and study.
We need to set aside high-stakes exams and give all students access to
inquiry-based, hands-on science experiences instead of scripted,
shallow test prep.
The writer is a professor of molecular biology at MIT.
— Jonathan King
