Old and New Beliefs About Measurement-Driven Reform: "The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same"

Authored by CRESST researchers Audrey Noble and Mary Lee Smith at Arizona State University, “Measurement-Driven Reform: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same,” offers further evidence that decision makers continue to use assessment to drive instruction and create schoolwide reform. Exploring the history of old and new beliefs about measurement driven reform, Noble and Smith utilize the Arizona Student Assessment Program (ASAP) as a practical example of how beliefs about instruction and assessment have changed, but the negative consequences of assessments have remained much the same. The authors found that ASAP embodied the contradictions inherent in the use of mandates to accomplish capacity-oriented goals. Its focus on compliance and control, in effect, undermined its potential to create the context necessary for educators to develop the level of competence desired by those who hope to reform education. Viewing Arizona as a microcosm, the authors expect similar problems to befall national measurement-driven reform efforts.