Mandatory State Testing For All

Some states are considering requiring testing of ALL students in primary and secondary grades. How will this effect private schools? Private schools will not be exempt from testing. We cannot assume that we are somehow above the fray, that all this political and media talk about improving public school test scores will not effect the quiet educational communities which are private schools. That's one of the few negatives of the whole 'school choice' argument. We decide to send our children to a private school where our children are taught how to think and how to apply the knowledge learned to every day living. We think that by doing so that we can finesse the whole public school mindset of 'teaching to the test.' Regrettably we are wrong.

Peter Relic, the distinguished past president of the National Association of Independent Schools, points out in The Trouble with the Standards Movement that California and Indiana are linking teacher and institutional accreditation to state required testing. Several states now require that every teacher in a public or private school be certified. I believe that this trend will accelerate and become the norm within five years.

Some states are considering requiring testing of ALL students in primary and secondary grades. How will this effect private schools? The push for testing has started at the federal level. The public education industry is just too well entrenched and too zealously protective of its interests to not take a crack at controlling all aspects of education including the private sector. The public cry for results from public school educators has left those folks scrambling to defend their turf. If they can somehow derail the success of private schools which they tend to view as elitist anyway, then they can continue to attempt to fool the public for a few more years. As part of the reauthorization process of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act the Clinton administration has issued a paper called Accountability For Results In Education. This spells out the federal proposals in detail. The irony is that the very points enunciated in this paper makes are the same principles and ideals which private schools have upheld and embraced for decades, if not longer. The paper calls for discipline, sound educational practices, and accountability, including a novel practice of issuing regular report cards. (Apparently there are 14 states which do not require report cards, if you can believe it!) This all means that you and I cannot be complacent about one more incursion into the independence which is at the heart of private education. Private schools already suffer from a mind-boggling degree of regulation from every level of government. Do you and I really want a mandarin in some state capital telling us that our child has to be tested at specified intervals in primary and secondary school? What a waste of precious contact hours and teaching talent!

The Bottom Line Is Accountability. Apparently it is very difficult to make public school systems accountable. On the other hand, private schools are accountable to their clients - the parents who pay the school fees which keep private institutions open for business. So why do we need mandatory testing at the state level to enforce accountability in private schools? The truthful answer is that we do not need it. What can you do about it? Let your state legislators and state board of education members know where you stand. Write them. Express your opinion.