TY - BOOK ID - 12012972 TI - Testing Wars in the Public Schools PY - 2013 SN - 0674075676 0674073045 0674075692 9780674075672 9780674073043 9780674075696 PB - Cambridge, MA DB - UniCat KW - Educational tests and measurements KW - Public schools KW - Education KW - Social Sciences KW - Theory & Practice of Education KW - History KW - Common schools KW - Grammar schools KW - School funds KW - Secondary schools KW - Educational assessment KW - Educational measurements KW - Mental tests KW - Tests and measurements in education KW - Schools KW - Psychological tests for children KW - Psychometrics KW - Students KW - Examinations KW - Psychological tests KW - Rating of UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:12012972 AB - Written tests to evaluate students were a radical and controversial innovation when American educators began adopting them in the 1800's. Testing quickly became a key factor in the political battles during this period that gave birth to America's modern public school system. William J. Reese offers a richly detailed history of an educational revolution that has so far been only partially told. Single-classroom schools were the norm throughout the United States at the turn of the nineteenth century. Pupils demonstrated their knowledge by rote recitation of lessons and were often assessed according to criteria of behavior and discipline having little to do with academics. Convinced of the inadequacy of this system, the reformer Horace Mann and allies on the Boston School Committee crafted America's first written exam and administered it as a surprise in local schools in 1845. The embarrassingly poor results became front-page news and led to the first serious consideration of tests as a useful pedagogic tool and objective measure of student achievement. A generation after Mann's experiment, testing had become widespread. Despite critics' ongoing claims that exams narrowed the curriculum, ruined children's health, and turned teachers into automatons, once tests took root in American schools their legitimacy was never seriously challenged. Testing Wars in the Public Schools puts contemporary battles over scholastic standards and benchmarks into perspective by showcasing the historic successes and limitations of the pencil-and-paper exam. ER -