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| The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools | 
 enlarge | Author: Alfie Kohn
Creator: Lois Bridges
Publisher: Heinemann
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
Buy New: $9.95
You Save: $3.05 (23%)
New (21) Used (10) from $8.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 25786
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 104
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.2
ISBN: 0325003254
Dewey Decimal Number: 371.2620973
EAN: 9780325003252
ASIN: 0325003254
Publication Date: 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Kohn's central message is that standardized tests are "not a force of nature but a force of politicsand political decisions can be questioned, challenged, and ultimately reversed."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Fill In the Dots, La, La, La. January 27, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In the past fifteen years or so Alfie Kohn has become one of the nation's most outspoken critics of the public school system. I'm a teacher myself and sometimes I've found myself in strong disagreement with the hypothesis that Kohn puts forth. Other times I agree with what he has to say. THE CASE AGAINST STANDARDIZED TESTING is a time when I agree with Kohn. The book is a book that average readers should be able to follow. It's an incredibly short book that is written in a question and answer format. Kohn's arguments are well-thought out usually well-supported. The point of the book is to illustrate the reader about the problems of standardized testing and why they should be modified, if not completely eliminated from our schools. The only major complaint I have about the book is that it really doesn't offer any alternatives to the current system. In the section "Fighting the Tests" Kohn offers 16 suggestions that people can do to help alter the current testing system. They range from talking with friends and neighbors to writing letters to running for the school board. These suggestions are good things, but they aren't an alternative to the current system. The book never offers a real alternative. That is the one major weakness of the book.
This is a book I would recommend to parents who have children in public schools because most educators already know why standardized testing is so bad. Just be aware that it doesn't offer anything to take the place of the messed-up system we have right now.
Great challenge to the current testing hype January 11, 2007
This book is a great overview of what standardized testing really is. The book describes how standardized tests are formulated and debates whether or not they are a real measure of student knowledge. As a teacher teaching in a low-income public school in California, where the population is 100% minorities, this book really helped me understand how unfair standardized testing is. Parents, teachers, adminstrators, take time to read this book!
 Great book! May 27, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is easily read and speaks volumes about the way testing our students is ruinous. The way Alfie Kohn presents the information is easily followed and gives the reader access to information about the NCLB act and how it is hazardous to the health of education. Testing our children into lowered educational environments is not closing the gap--normed referenced test can't do that. Read this book to get a better picture of what standardized testing really does for children.
Excellent! Must read for teachers February 10, 2005
As a teacher, I have been frustrated the last few years with our extreme focus on raising test scores in public education. I've had this overwhelming feeling that "something's not quite right ," but haven't been able to put my finger on what it is or why. Kohn has studied the issue and has articulated exactly what's going on and the folly of it all. If you've noticed something's amiss as well, you will find the first part of his book validating and enlightening,even if you don't want to wholeheartedly embrace authentic assessment in place of objective, standardized tests.
What Happened to Recess and Why Are Our Kids Struggling in Kindergarten? by Ohanian is also very good.
A focused indictment of the obsession with standards. January 9, 2005
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
It has been asserted with regard to this book that the author was never a teacher and has no qualifications. That's not true. In fact, the bio on the back of this very book reads, "A former teacher, Kohn now works with educators across the country and speaks regularily at national conferences." It has also been asserted that Kohn offers no alternatives. The chapter of this book beginning on page 41 is entitled, "If Not Standardized Tests, Then What?"
Kohn's work frequently runs against the grain of well-established and entrenched practices and beliefs. It is particularly true of the political climate today that the most entrenched beliefs and practices in the field of education involve "standards," "accountability," and "testing." Kohn explodes the myths that these sorts of approaches are good for education or good for children. This book is concise and compelling. A must for anyone involved in education or education policymaking.
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