Be wary of new testing

W ith a new Department of Education Commission leading the way, there is an incipient movement to institute standardized testing in higher education.

With the No Child Left Behind Act -- which mandates standardized testing in public elementary and secondary schools -- as a stepping stone, government officials are hoping to create a better way to compare educations at different universities.

However, while it may be simple to compare what is being learned at Lower Merion High School and Central High School, when it comes to higher education, it's a much different situation.

This newspaper doesn't take issue with the idea that college graduates should have some type of minimum skill set, but it's incredibly difficult to quantify learning between different colleges and universities.

Making testing even more difficult, measuring learning within a single school, including Penn, can be inaccurate. How can a test quantify the value of what a student learns in a communication class versus a calculus course?

This push for "more accountability" does not bode well for Penn students or this University, and President Amy Gutmann should be wary of any potential standardized-testing requirements for college educations.

In fact, the systems are in place already to assess the quality of students' learning.

Many universities -- Penn included -- go through a vigorous accreditation process that ensures the school's teaching is up to par. More methodical and qualitive education evaluations are much better ways to measure institutions of higher learning than a misguided standardized-testing scheme.

In addition, grades and scores on established standardized tests such as the LSAT or GRE can be used to compare student achievement.

Unlike in high school, students often select colleges on the basis of the specific style or content of the education offered. By creating a single national test to measure the quality of education, the government is trying to oversimplify incredibly diverse and wide-ranging educational experiences.

Gutmann and other higher-education leaders must push the Commission on the Future of Higher Education and political leaders in Washington not to expand standardized testing to higher the nation's colleges and universities.

Combined with accreditation, our grades and degrees are still the best ways to measure an education.

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