An editorial in the San Antonio Express-News declares, “STAAR test fails Texas students and needs to go—but not as part of school vouchers.” The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) was first implemented in the 2011-2012 school year. The test is used to determine promotion to the next grade, as well as graduation. It is also used to assess teachers, schools, and school districts. While such assessments are federally mandated, virtually nobody likes them.
The editorial goes on to say, “replace STAAR with an assessment that measures learning but removes the high stakes and crippling anxiety. Make learning fun again.” In other words, the paper expects the same people who came up with STAAR to come up with something better. And when the next standardized assessment fails, this entire debate will be renewed.
The solution to this particular problem is to do away with government mandated testing standards. The solution to the problems plaguing the nation’s schools is to do away with government schools. It is time to end the government’s education monopoly.
Consider the context of this. The government controls the curriculum and school budgets. It then tests students, teachers, schools, and districts against standards that it sets. Students who fail don’t go to the next grade or can’t graduate. Teachers who fail might get fired. Schools and districts that fail might be taken over by the state. The state is in complete control.
Assessments are necessary to determine if students are learning and teachers are teaching. But that doesn’t mean that there needs to be a standardized test. Indeed, in a free market, there would likely be numerous competing tests, and schools could choose which they would use. Parents could choose to send their children to schools that use an assessment that they judge best.
Government schools necessarily impose one standard upon all students, teachers, and school districts, whether it is appropriate or not. Authoritarian central planning never works, and the state of the nation’s government schools is just one more example.