Unequal By Design High-Stakes Testing and the Standardization of
Inequality By Wayne Au Published August 27th 2008 by Routledge –
216 pages Series: Critical Social Thought 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 19th and early 20th
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. "If equity and transformation of
current schooling conditions are to be attained, Unequal by
design: high-stakes te