A victory for education
Alfie Kohn isn't expecting a check in the mail, or a bouquet from the people who run the Massachusetts Department of Education.
Nevertheless, victory was sweet last week for the prolific education author. Superior Court Judge Hiller B. Zobel ruled last week that the DOE violated Kohn's civil rights by blocking him from speaking at an education conference in 2001.
Kohn had been booked to speak on standardized testing. The department, which had funded the conference, threatened to withdraw its money if Kohn was allowed to speak.
Kohn's offense was that he is an outspoken opponent of high-stakes testing generally, and of the MCAS specifically. Public support for the exam was wobbly five years ago, which might explain why it was so important to keep him away from a microphone. Though uninvited from the conference, Kohn was paid his $5,000 fee -- paid, in effect, not to speak. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the department on behalf of Kohn and some of the conference organizers who had invited him. The suit ``was never about my honorarium, it was about the First Amendment," Kohn said yesterday. ``The judge is now going to craft an injunction which specifies exactly what the Department of Education must do or can't do in the future, as a result of having been liable for trying to silence dissent."
Kohn made it clear that his opinion of tests such as the MCAS has not changed one bit in the past five years. He argues that such tests short-circuit real teaching and learning.
``It remains a test that measures what matters least about learning, and the damage it does because of its high-stake status is incalculable, both to the students who are forced out of school without a diploma because they don't think they can pass and how it displaces meaningful learning," he said.
``Starting in the primary grades, teachers feel compelled to help kids prepare for a standardized test instead of becoming deep thinkers."
Certainly, there are lots of divergent views on the value of the MCAS. But the state went too far, way too far, in basically demanding that a critic shut up.
MCAS may have become less controversial over the years. The vast majority of students pass it, for one thing, and it has gradually become part of the educational landscape, the way charter schools have.
Kohn worries, though, about the students who drop out of school because they don't think they will ever pass it. Worth worrying about, too, is the political environment that makes such testing popular. I've listened to plenty of politicians demonize teachers and make pronouncements about ``accountability" when it was obvious that they had given little thought to what makes education work. All too often, it becomes a buzzword.
``If you don't know much about education, it sounds reasonable at first hearing to say we want to hold schools accountable for giving our kids an excellent education," Kohn said. ``In the abstract, so do I. So does everyone. If you don't know much about how to assess the quality of teaching and learning, you may be snookered into believing that standardized tests are a measure and that high-stakes testing keeps teachers on the straight and narrow."
The Department of Education, for the record, has always denied that it was trying to keep Kohn from talking, stating that the conference was about other topics. Kohn scoffs at that notion, and Zobel rejected it as well.
Kohn speculates that the MCAS may have mobilized opposition to high-stakes testing. If enough parents complain and want to opt out, then the test could be in jeopardy. That's an advocate speaking, not an analyst; the MCAS isn't going anyplace.
Just the same, the debate over high-stakes testing and its consequences for children is well worth having, even now. Government should encourage debate, not stifle it. Kohn's was a victory for free exchange of ideas. I think that makes it a win for education.
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at walker@globe.com. 
