Human Diversity, Assessment in Education and the Achievement of Excellence and Equity

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONThis article will address several topics in reaching its conclusion. Initially, it will be important to provide the background that assessment is a broad-ranging conception, which encompasses a host of differing practices, and has served several different functions in our society at large, and in the field of education in particular. Most strikingly today, we witness an especial stress in education placed on what is called high-stakes testing, a method of assessment that speaks to the role that large-scale educational assessments currently play in ascertaining the quality of student learning, and in turn, the quality of the education afforded to students. But most importantly, the obtained results have major implications for those tested and hold consequences for schools and their educational stakeholders as well.It will then place the practice of assessment in historical context and show that, while assessment historically was conceived to provide greater opportunities for persons from diverse backgrounds, paradoxically, in terms of present day understanding of diversity in social backgrounds, assessment practices can easily serve an exclusionary purpose for individuals whose experiences are construed as outside the mainstream of our society.The study documents what is largely known, that certain demographics and racial/ethnic minority groups fare relatively poorly on virtually all educational assessment measures, but that the obtained pattern of findings defy conventional explanations. Therefore the remedies that have typically been proffered for such low performance need to be thoughtfully reconsidered. In light of the need for explanatory reconsiderations, given that high-stakes testing is now used in education as a key driver for increasing school and student achievement, and more broadly for pursuing school reform, important questions should be posed and addressed. The discussion will then lead to raising and then answering the following questions: Can we test our way to greater opportunities for diverse students and to promote school reform? Should we? A case will also be made for focusing not just on assessment o/leaming but assessment for learning. Additionally, arguments will be made for expanding the reach of assessments to include not just assessments of students, but assessments of educational contexts; and a case will be made for expanding issues of validity to include matters of consequence and interpretation of assessment results. A case will also be made for converging educational assessments with a redirected purpose of formal education in our society to place greater emphasis on human capacity-building rather than sorting and selecting. The article will conclude with a culminating summary of the arguments and issues that have been raised, and provide a framework for more proactively addressing issues of race, culture, excellence, equity and assessment in the American social order.MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS OF ASSESSMENT AND THE CURRENT PREOCCUPATION IN EDUCATION WITH HIGH-STAKES TESTINGOver the course of the 20th century, and until the present day, assessment has played a major role in American schooling, and even in how our society has come to understand human ability and capacity. There is assessment for discerning competence or qualifications; for purposes of selection; for sorting or screening of candidates, and for certification (Gipps, 1999; Madaus, Raczek, & Clarke, 1997). Gipps argued that assessment has served the purpose of controlling examinees' access to further levels of education or professional positions (Gipps, 1999). Assessment also serves a diagnostic function, as well as an academic placement function. In recent years assessment has been a tool of accountability in educational settings, and has been used in the service of school reform (Linn, 2000; Shepard, 2000). In this regard, it has gotten increasing attention as an index of student learning. …