Wow. Thanks Peter for the overview. It is beginning to make sense. and thank you Yrjö for the reference -- I'm sure it will be worthwhile reading.
Paul wrote:
>the society as a whole. Another way to see this, perhaps, is to consider
>whether the repeated action of testing lead to any qualitative
>transformation in itself (not simply a quantitative improvement of producing
>the same type of result) or the system of which it is a part.
It is interesting to think of testing through the lens of activity theory. I keep coming back to the phrase "Human development is the dialectical unity of the individual and the societal" (Engeström, 1986). Testing can and has lead to changes, societal and individual, especially with its normalizing effect. One interesting presentation at AERA was discussion of normalization on teaching practices http://www.klick.org/aera/absdisp.asp?uid=87
Another situation, closer to home, has a bit to do with the state's standardized testing. Recently the state has mandated changes in several schools in Massachusetts that have consistently underperformed on the state tests.
http://www.masslive.com/news/mcas/index.ssf?/news/stories/ae614und.html
http://www.masslive.com/news/mcas/index.ssf?/news/stories/hf524mon.html
Another interesting development was the effects of state testing, together with other influences, on some children in a bussing program (and school officials/staff):
http://204.202.137.115/sections/us/DailyNews/metco990409.html
http://www.massnews.com/stc1.htm
http://www.dailyfreepress.com/cityscope/0322992.cfm
http://www.shore.net/shore/news/plnews/plnews.html/5
http://204.202.137.111/sections/us/DailyNews/metco990409_hampton.html
(The end result is that the bussing program has been sustained with new policies and systemic supports in place)
I think that the responses to Nate's query "I am still not clear how a dialectics
fits into a discussion of population mean and an individual score." are in these complex examples -- the latter of how differences between individual students' performances on normed tests and the norm (as well as other measures of academic performance) rippled through a community, as a officials of the school system sought to improve the district population's performance. The results were changes in rules, division of labor, and community, etc. the whole system changed. aggregate test data of a population is often compared to a subpopulation, a school, or students of a program, or to individuals -- with subsequent actions taken that influence their development.
The secondary sources provided above do not make an explicit link between state testing and the development of the situation -- this information came from primary sources, and is incomplete as (I infer that) the sensitivity and volatility of the situation inhibited full disclosure. And also, the test results are some of an *ensemble of artifacts* with which contradictions in the system emerged, grades being another component.
bb
Engestrom, Y. (1986) The Zone of Proximal Development as the Basic Category of Educational Psychology. The Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, January, volume 8, number 1. (This paper has a highly useful reformulation of zpd.)
Also see
Newsweek, September 6, 1999 "Behind the SAT"
Bill Barowy, Associate Professor
Lesley College
29 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-2790
Phone: 617-349-8168 / Fax: 617-349-8169
http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/wbarowy/Barowy.html
_______________________
"One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself
and watch yourself softly become the author of something beautiful."
[Norman Maclean in "A river runs through it."]
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