By Bob Peterson

AH HA! YOU DON'T FIT THE STANDARDS! THAT PROVES THAT PUBLIC EDUCATION IS A FAILURE!

The Milwaukee School Board is about to embark on an unprecedented expansion of standardized testing - despite warnings from experts on assessment; lack of input from parents, teachers, and principals; and a single public hearing held three business days after details of the expansion were released.

The proposal calls for almost tripling the number of standardized tests given to Milwaukee Public School (MPS) students. The overriding concern is that teachers will be pressured to focus on memorization and low-level skills rather than on encouraging students to think more critically, analytically, and in depth - the kind of learning not easily measured by a computerized, fill-in-the-bubble standardized test.

Milwaukee's plan is part of a national trend to increase school accountability through reliance on standardized tests. In Milwaukee, a key argument is that the district needs better longitudinal data on student performance.

But the dilemma in MPS, as in other urban districts, is not the inability to produce data but rather how best to promote academic achievement. "We don't need to have further documentation of failure," notes Beverly Cross, Professor of Urban Education at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Rethinking Schools editor. "What we need are programs that push teachers to be more effective and creative in their teaching."