The original article can be found at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4754412.stm
This BBC News article describes an educational movement in Britain, where some people think that higher-functioning students should be singled out early so that they can begin to receive specialized attention. Others say that this practice will inhibit the ability of schools to appropriately administer enrichment to those students who excel in certain areas. These are two sides of the debate over whether or not standardized testing should be used to identify students who would be able to achieve well at the university level. The testing would take place around the age of eleven for students, and those students identified as having potential to do well in college would be placed on a national list and given more opportunities for enriched instruction. While the article is vague about what exactly the chosen students would receive in terms of different instruction, I would say that I agree with the arguments of the teachers and administrators with concerns about the program. Among the strongest arguments discussed in the article is the point made by an educator that the tests given to students are meant to be measures of present achievement, not potential for success in college. In my view, testing to measure possible success in college at the age of eleven is practically pointless, since the students still have half of their school careers to discover their strengths, weaknesses, and possible options after leaving school. Also, I tend to object in general to the use of standardized tests to measure achievement in general because of the limited ability of such tests to give an accurate picture of what a student actually knows.
Another very valid point made is the observation that primary school students really don’t need the pressure of taking a test that would decide whether or not they are considered high achieving. While there are some very successful educational systems in the world in which students are placed on a certain track for academics or a career early in their lives, I do not think that the placement system proposed in Britain would be beneficial at all to the students. This is because of the limited scope of the testing as well as the fact that special instruction is only provided for those students who scored well. This seems like a very poor way to improve the chances of high achieving students in public schools going on to get better grades compared to independent schools, which is the goal of the programs being proposed. If there are even more students who would benefit from special instruction, they will be left out of the process if they don’t make the list. While I am not by any means against providing opportunities for gifted and talented students to explore and expand their knowledge, it doesn’t make much sense to me as an educator not to provide these opportunities to everyone just to make some numbers on paper look good in comparison to other schools. Of course, when it comes to the government and improving scores, some of the same kinds of goals can be observed here in the US (and probably everywhere else too) when the powers that be decide that we need to focus on looking good instead of educating fairly and effectively.
