Unequal By Design

High-Stakes Testing and the Standardization of Inequality

By Wayne Au

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• ISBN: 978-0-415-99071-4
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 27th August 2008
• Pages: 216

About the Book

Unequal By Design critically examines high-stakes standardized testing in order to illuminate what is really at stake for students, teachers, and communities negatively affected by such testing. This thoughtful analysis traces standardized testing’s origins in the Eugenics and Social Efficiency movements of the late 19^th and early 20^th century through its current use as the central tool for national educational reform via No Child Left Behind. By exploring historical, social, economic, and educational aspects of testing, author Wayne Au demonstrates that these tests are not only premised on the creation of inequality, but that their structures are inextricably intertwined with social inequalities that exist outside of schools.

Reviews

"If equity and transformation of current schooling conditions are to be attained, Unequal by design: high-stakes testing and the standardization of inequality is a beacon to help realize ‘the potential to be equal by design should we so choose’ (p. 145)."--Michael Vavrus, Journal of Education Policy, 25:1, 113-114

Table of Contents

Series Introduction Michael W. Apple

1.The Zip Code Effect: Educational Inequality in the United States

2.We Are All Widgets: Standardized Testing and The Hegemonic Logics of the Educational Assembly Line

3.The Educational Enterprise: NCLB, Neoliberalism, and the Politics of Equality

4.Steerage at a Distance: High-Stakes Testing and Classroom Control

5. Devising Inequality: High-Stakes Testing and the Regulation of Consciousness 6. Standardizing Inequality: The Hidden Curriculum of High-Stakes Testing Afterword Zeus Leonardo

About the Author(s)

Wayne Au is Assistant Professor in the Department of Secondary Education, California State University-Fullerton and he is an editor for the progressive education journal, Rethinking Schools.

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