Testing Wars in the Public Schools : A Forgotten History / William J. Reese.
2013
LB3051 .R3553 2013eb
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Title
Testing Wars in the Public Schools : A Forgotten History / William J. Reese.
Author
ISBN
9780674075672
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2013]
Copyright
©2013
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource
Item Number
10.4159/harvard.9780674075672 doi
Call Number
LB3051 .R3553 2013eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
371.26097309034
Summary
Written tests to evaluate students were a radical and controversial innovation when American educators began adopting them in the 1800s. Testing quickly became a key factor in the political battles during this period that gave birth to America's modern public school system. William J. Reese offers a richly detailed history of an educational revolution that has so far been only partially told. Single-classroom schools were the norm throughout the United States at the turn of the nineteenth century. Pupils demonstrated their knowledge by rote recitation of lessons and were often assessed according to criteria of behavior and discipline having little to do with academics. Convinced of the inadequacy of this system, the reformer Horace Mann and allies on the Boston School Committee crafted America's first written exam and administered it as a surprise in local schools in 1845. The embarrassingly poor results became front-page news and led to the first serious consideration of tests as a useful pedagogic tool and objective measure of student achievement. A generation after Mann's experiment, testing had become widespread. Despite critics' ongoing claims that exams narrowed the curriculum, ruined children's health, and turned teachers into automatons, once tests took root in American schools their legitimacy was never seriously challenged. Testing Wars in the Public Schools puts contemporary battles over scholastic standards and benchmarks into perspective by showcasing the historic successes and limitations of the pencil-and-paper exam.
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Access limited to authorized users.
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Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
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text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Introduction
CHAPTER 1. Festivals of Learning
CHAPTER 2. A-Putting Down Sin
CHAPTER 3. Screwing Machines
CHAPTER 4. A Pile of Thunder-Bolts
CHAPTER 5. Thanatopsis and Square Roots
CHAPTER 6. Chewing Pencil Tops
CHAPTER 7. The Culture of Testing
Epilogue
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
Contents
Introduction
CHAPTER 1. Festivals of Learning
CHAPTER 2. A-Putting Down Sin
CHAPTER 3. Screwing Machines
CHAPTER 4. A Pile of Thunder-Bolts
CHAPTER 5. Thanatopsis and Square Roots
CHAPTER 6. Chewing Pencil Tops
CHAPTER 7. The Culture of Testing
Epilogue
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index