Making the Grades: My Misadventures in the Standardized Testing Industry

Highly Recommended

A stunning and highly readable book. We can't open the paper today without reading a story about education or education reform that mentions test scores. Test scores going up. Going down. Cheating. More tests being mandated. Teachers being rewarded or punished or even fired based on these standardized test scores. But after reading this book, you will never read these stories the same way again. Mr. Farley explains in great detail based on his own 15 years in the standardized testing industry how these tests are created and scored. Speed and profit come before accuracy. We have outsourced the education of our children to the lowest bidder and the test results are universally junk. Garbage in garbage out. Mr. Farley has been interviewed by CBS news, and has written Guest editorials for the New York Times and Washington Post. The No Child Left Behind/Race to the Top testing mania has gripped Washington under Republicans and Democrats alike. After reading this book, you'll be demanding congressional hearings.