The Demand for Standardized Student Testing Richard P. Phelps American Institutes for Research Pelavin Research Center What does the American public think about standardized testing? Do Americans test too much? Does the public believe that tests are a good way to learn about how well students are doing and to encourage them to do better? What do students, teachers, and administrators think? popular belief among critics A of standardized testing and, in particular, of high-stakes stan- dardized testing is that politicians comprise the moving force behind the advocacy for more testing. As the story goes, politicians operate in- dependently of the public (but, per- haps, not independently of corporate interests) and lobby for more testing as a (wrong-headed and simplistic) solution to (exaggerated) problems with the schools. An interesting manifestation of the debate nurtured by this belief has transpired as an occasional panel, entitled “Educational Assess- ment: Are the Politicians Winning?”’ at the annual joint meetings of the American Educational Research As- sociation (AERA) and the National Council on Measurement in Educa- tion (NCME). A school principal, quoted at length in one evaluation of testing programs, portrays the belief vividly: State legislatures ought to get out of the business of educational as- sessment. Politicians with agenda, who do not know about schools, design grandiose programs and accountability tags for funding purposes. But while designed to help, ultimately they harm. They offer rigid constraints and direc- tives. We need to have the legisla- ture listen to teachers. . . . (West & Viator, 1992a, p. 39) Are such testing opponents cor- rect? Are politicians the primary force behind demands for more test- ing? Are they out of touch with their constituents, unaware of what the voters and taxpayers want? If they listened to teachers, as the princi- pal above suggests, what would they hear? We U.S. citizens live in a republic. Within some judicial constraints for the rights of minorities and the like, we are not unreasonable in expect- ing that our wishes be represented in policy. With regard to education policy, that should mean that we see our collective will-not that of self- interested groups, be they politi- cians or education researchers for that matter-manifest in the ad- ministration of the public education system. The purpose of this study was to learn the public’s wishes regarding student testing. Put another way, I wanted to know what the public demands regarding the amount of standardized and high-stakes test- ing. In the interest of learning the true wishes of the American public, this article ignores what politicians want, say, or do. Instead, it focuses on the opinions of several nonpoliti- cal groups, including the public as a whole, parents, students, teachers, and administrators. Over the past 25 years, over 50 large-scale polls and surveys have asked various respondent groups their preferences regarding the amount of student testing. It can be assumed that I am not talking about classroom testing here but “exter- nal,” “mandated,” and “systemwide” testing. For the most part, I am also talking about “high-stakes” testing; low-stakes testing just isn’t contro- versial. One can tell when the test- ing to which the polls and surveys refer is high-stakes if the questions include phrases such as: “tests for high school graduation” or “raising the standards of promotion from grade school to high school and only letting kids move ahead when they pass a test showing they have reached those standards.” In other words, the stakes are usually fairly explicit in the questions. One can probably assume that public poll and survey respondents are not always fully informed of the context, alternatives, or constraints in testing policy and they probably aren’t fully familiar with all the testing options or their relative fea- sibilities. But, such is true for most public policies. Because citizens are not fully informed on issues in no way reduces their right to deter- mine policies. Those on the inside of the education system may some- times be better informed, but they may be also more self-interested. Scope of Research Quite simply, I tried to find every U.S. public opinion or general survey item on student testing in existence. My search employed two strategies: First, I conducted a search in the Richard Phelps is a Senior Re- search Analyst at the American Insti- tutes for Research, Pelavin Research Center, 1000 Thomas Jefferson St., NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20007. His specializations are economics, finance, and international indicators. Fall 1998 5