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Testing Times
The effects of a standardised testing policy in elementary education—the Standards of Learning followed by Virginia in the United States—on heterogeneous social groups are examined, and also how test results are heavily affected by such groups and their norms. Interviews with teachers at James River Elementary School are used and secondary data from the Virginia Department of Education is analysed.
This article is a part of the author’s thesis in the final year of the Masters in Public Policy course at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru with aid from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.
This article analyses the effects of standardised testing policy in elementary education. The policy in question is the Standards of Learning (SOLs) followed by the Virginia in the United States (US). This is done through a case study in Williamsburg, Virginia, one of the oldest settlements in the US. The case study uses observation and interviews of teachers, and analyses secondary data from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).
Specifically, it considers the test performance of students from heterogeneous social groups and how the test results are also heavily affected by such social groups and their norms. This article tries to understand why certain patterns are formed within certain social groups.
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