Soundoff: Coaching versus Competence

Abstract

Recently educators have been beset by complaints from parents and businesses—and the news media has run related stories—that educational standards are falling. In partial response to these complaints and stories, some states now demand, as a condition for a high school diploma, a passing score on a standardized elementary mathematical competency test. The introduction of these tests could represent a positive step in the present reform movement in mathematics education—but only if the tests are integrated into the overall framework of that movement. A recent incident in my local school system suggests that a competency test can actually undercut the reform movement if the test is allowed to impose its own reference frame. The discussion that follows derives from that specific incident, but I believe it applies, in principle, to the handling of any standardized test imposed solely to establish a minimum competency requirement. Broader spectrum, multilevel instruments, such as the New York State Regents Examination, raise more complex issues that cannot be addressed here.