There are many literary allusions that apply to the latest reports on state test scores in language arts and math. 

For starters, there’s Chicken Little and “The sky is falling!” Every year we hear the same refrain that all is lost. After over 20 years of domination by standardized testing as the be-all and end-all of public education, the scores have remained essentially flat. No matter how much teachers are micromanaged; no matter how much geography, history, art, science and civics are sidelined; no matter how much taxpayer money is shoveled to testing corporations and leagues of data crunchers, the overall scores have changed very little across the U.S.

Then there’s “Elmer Gantry,” the Sinclair Lewis novel about a minister who peddles his “truth” to gullible believers. The standardized testing corporations, the data-crunching bureaucrats and the toe-the-line politicians have continually portrayed testing as gospel truth. Thou shalt not question whether these tests are even worthwhile.

Then there’s the folktale, “The Emperor Has No Clothes.” Many parents, students and taxpayers know that this testing system has no merit. Quite a few politicians and school administrators express doubt behind closed doors. But we continue to pretend that these test scores reveal the absolute truth about teaching and learning.

Then there’s the Pete Seeger song, “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” about the platoon leader who keeps pushing his soldiers forward to their death in a river — even though it’s obvious to everyone that this is a stupid mistake. Teachers and students know the testing system is fatally flawed, but the education and political establishment insist on pushing forward, despite the evidence. 

Then there’s King Midas and the destructive power of greed. Oregon taxpayers have spent well over $75 million over the past decade to Smarter Balanced Inc. for tests, and to Cambium Assessment Inc. for testing operations. For what? At what cost?

Lastly, from King Lear, “That way madness lies…”

Roscoe Caron
Eugene