Making a Grade: Victorian Examinations and the Rise of Standardized Testing

by James Elwick

Overview

Starting in the 1850s achievement tests became standardized in the British Isles, and were administered on an industrial scale. By the end of the century more than two million people had written mass exams, particularly in science, technology, and mathematics. Some candidates responded to this standardization by cramming or cheating; others embraced the hope that such tests rewarded not only knowledge but also merit.

Written with humour, Making a Grade looks at how standardized testing practices quietly appeared, and then spread worldwide. This book situates mass exams, marks, and credentials in an emerging paper-based meritocracy, arguing that such exams often first appeared as "cameras" to neutrally record achievement, and then became "engines" to change education as people tailored their behaviour to fit these tests. Taking the perspectives of both examiners and examinees, Making a Grade claims that our own culture’s desire for accountability through objective testing has a long history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487539351
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	03/01/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

James Elwick is an associate professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at York University.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part One: Examinations
1. “The Age of Examinations”: A Historical Sketch
2. Monetizing Marks: The Political Economy of Examinations
3. An Epistemology of the Mundane: Dissecting One Examination

Part Two: Examiners
4. Daguerreotypes of the Mind: Paper, Partition, and Specialization
5. Machining Minds: Commensuration, Tabulation, and Standardization
6. Thin Descriptions: Credentials and Other Signals

Part Three: Examinees
7. Learning and Earning: Coaching or Cramming?
8. Immoral Economies: How to Cheat on a Victorian Exam
9. Economies, Remoralized: Examinations as Technologies of Inclusion

Conclusion

Appendix A: Important Dates
Appendix B: Biographical List
Notes
Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

Graeme Gooday

"Reading Making a Grade is an uplifting experience: drawing on his immensely detailed historical research and his expertise as a teacher, James Elwick makes the history of educational testing a joy to read. This volume sparkles as it skilfully narrates the rise of the ever-contested infrastructure of implementing 'standards' in pedagogy, the diverse experiences of the pupils examined, and the challenges facing those who sought to win trust in 'standardized' results."

Theodore Porter

"It was a noble ideal to hold teachers and students alike to the highest ideals of scholarly attainment by subjecting every student of every subject to the same examination at the conclusion of their studies. It gave rise, however, to a cornucopia of evasions and distortions: cramming, bribery, and surreptitious advantages for insiders. It also distorted the curriculum in favor of readily testable knowledge. In Making a Grade, James Elwick provides an engaging introduction to the ironies of meritocracy, revealing dimensions of Victorianism that most of us had not suspected."

Editorial Reviews

"This is a book which is committed, from the outset, to the reconstruction and analysis of numerous aspects of the rise of examinations. It involves some excellent detailed recovery of individual cases from a range of archives, and the author is to be congratulated on his nose for a good source."

—Roy Lowe, British Journal of Educational Studies

" Making a Grade makes an important contribution to the world of science and educational assessment research. Elwick’s thorough review of Victorian examinations helps to historicize key stakeholders’ perspectives in the science of measurement (i.e., standardized testing) in recent educational history."

—Peiyu Wang and Liying Cheng, Queen’s University, Historical Studies in Education/Revue d’histoire de l’éducation
“Elwick’s systemic approach allows him to accommodate both the incredible pluralism of Victorian education and the growing homogeneity of its exam culture.”—Peter Mandler, University of Cambridge, Victorian Studies

"It was a noble ideal to hold teachers and students alike to the highest ideals of scholarly attainment by subjecting every student of every subject to the same examination at the conclusion of their studies. It gave rise, however, to a cornucopia of evasions and distortions: cramming, bribery, and surreptitious advantages for insiders. It also distorted the curriculum in favor of readily testable knowledge. In Making a Grade, James Elwick provides an engaging introduction to the ironies of meritocracy, revealing dimensions of Victorianism that most of us had not suspected."

—Theodore Porter, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles

"Reading Making a Grade is an uplifting experience: drawing on his immensely detailed historical research and his expertise as a teacher, James Elwick makes the history of educational testing a joy to read. This volume sparkles as it skilfully narrates the rise of the ever-contested infrastructure of implementing ‘standards’ in pedagogy, the diverse experiences of the pupils examined, and the challenges facing those who sought to win trust in ‘standardized’ results."

—Graeme Gooday, School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science, University of Leeds

From the Publisher

"Making a Grade makes an important contribution to the world of science and educational assessment research. Elwick's thorough review of Victorian examinations helps to historicize key stakeholders' perspectives in the science of measurement (i.e., standardized testing) in recent educational history."

Historical Studies in Education/Revue d'histoire de l'éducation - Peiyu Wang and Liying Cheng

"This is a book which is committed, from the outset, to the reconstruction and analysis of numerous aspects of the rise of examinations. It involves some excellent detailed recovery of individual cases from a range of archives, and the author is to be congratulated on his nose for a good source."

British Journal of Educational Studies - Roy Lowe