Writing in The Nation, Stanford professor Claude Steele makes a number of points about the "ability paradigm," his term for the testing system that assesses the academic readiness and achievement of individual students, guides placement decisions (such as whether a student will go on to the next grade level or a competitive college), and guides political and social decisions as to how educational resources will be allocated. Steele's article focuses on how this "paradigm" affects minorities, especially African-Americans. It may surprise readers that we agree with many of his recommendations, though he is far more skeptical about the usefulness of testing than we. But you'll find no disagreement here that "ability" ought to be less important than "achievement" (or, as Steele prefers, "skill level") in making decisions about placement. We agree that remedial placements ought not become "life sentences" for minority youths. And we definitely agree that all students ought to take a high-quality, demanding curriculum. We're a little unclear on what Steele means when he talks of "additional metrics [to assess] such signs of student readiness as motivation and desire, breadth of life experience, degree of experience in the relevant domain, work discipline, maturity, etc.," since none of these desirable attributes quite substitutes for actually knowing the material. But overall, there is much sense in this article, despite its improbable venue.
"Not just a test," by Claude Steele, The Nation, May 3, 2004