On 2/8/2011 3:34 PM, Miles Jackson wrote:
>
> Inside Higher Ed just published a good piece by Robert Sternberg on
> Academically Adrift:
>
> http://bit.ly/dPWLuV
>
> Sternberg's a cognitive psychologist who has done a lot of great work
> demonstrating how many important aspects of learning and intelligence
> are not accurately assessed by standardized tests.
This piece is informative, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be persuaded of. The book he's responding to apparently shows that on one dimension of thinking (analytical), as measured by tests, students make shockingly little progress through college. Sternberg's response is that the tests are indeed valid and reliable, but that they're not designed to measure three other kinds of thinking (creative, practical, ethical).
But Sternberg presents no evidence - not even suggestive evidence - that students are progressing any better on the other three dimensions of thinking. If colleges aren't teaching students how to evaluate texts or ideas ("analytical thinking"), why should we believe they're doing any better at teaching them to generate original texts and ideas ("creative thinking")?
He's absolutely right about the insidiousness of the standardized test fetish. But if I understand correctly, the book shows that the students who progress the furthest on these particular tests are those who major in the liberal arts, and that those majors are known for assigning more reading and writing, not for their reliance on standardized tests.
SA