Pearson -- are they really the bad guy here?

I just read that Texas is getting rid of Pearson for their testing needs. At first, I thought excellent! That really sends a message. But then I thought a little more.

Is this really about one evil test publisher who is trying to take over the standardized testing world? Or are we talking about a test publisher who saw the opportunity to capitalize (literally) on the goals of No Child Left Behind and all of the "research-based" practices associated with it? What's wrong with being good at capitalism?

I was program coordinator for the NM Reading First program at the PED for a while. That is when NCLB was fairly new. The push was to make the teaching profession a research-based profession. What did this mean?

Well, for Reading First, it meant that teachers were given palm pilots that helped them assess their students' progress in real time. They were thrilled with this new tool. But the thrill didn't last long.

Research-based teaching practices also meant scripted lessons, where teachers were required to read word for word from a script to ensure that, even down to the level of a single syllable, the exact same thing was said in every classroom in the nation.

Isn't that taking it too far? I thought it was and eventually quit the job. I couldn't stand watching teachers' feelings hurt and their self-esteem battered because they weren't considered intelligent enough to use their own words in the classroom.

As I worked on my master's degree, I discovered what most of us know or suspect, that NCLB was based on only the research it agreed with. There was so much more research that contradicted what they were pushing on us.

Pearson saw an opportunity to push standardized testing because it fits in so well with NCLB and competition and capitalism/materialism -- the American Dream -- and in the end, they took over the testing world.

But Pearson isn't the bad guy. Neither is standardized testing. What's bad is the emphasis we are placing on it and this new disgusting practice of tying student test scores to someone's livelihood. The bad guys are the uninformed legislators who pass laws that let these things happen. 

We don't need to get rid of Pearson. We don't need to get rid of testing. We don't need to go through political processes to get laws passed.

Let's just go back to those days when we kept it all in perspective and knew that testing was just one of many tools teachers can use to help them assess their students' learning. Let's give it back to the teachers so they can use it as it was meant to be used. It doesn't have to be political. It could be about learning. 

That's all I've got for today. Go out and learn something!