Unraveling the Assessment Industrial Complex: Reenvisioning What It Means to Say a School Is Doing Well

• In Event: Seeing 2020

Abstract

In this paper we examine the Assessment Industrial Complex (AIC) utilizing Eisner’s (1988) framework of an ecology of school improvement. We argue that standardized assessments in all forms, and high-stakes testing specifically, anchor the AIC; all things education are grounded to “the test.” This tethering to the test is a consequence of amalgamation of political and corporate agents that comprise the AIC. This examination exposes how proponents of AIC utilize rhetoric to determine education outcomes and reinforce neoliberal perspectives. Focusing on the rhetoric of the AIC provides a deeper understanding of how education reformers employ language that normalizes and legitimizes the value of tests.

Authors

• Michelle Tenam-Zemach, Nova Southeastern University

• Daniel R. Conn, Minot State University