UNC-system schools are set to vote on whether or not to approve the standardized testing assessments proposed in system President Tom Ross’ five-year strategic plan. The assessments and the current implementation process are a rushed and misguided attempt to quell criticisms that undergraduate students aren’t learning anything in college.
The assessments would test students’ critical thinking and written communication skills. The two competencies currently under evaluation have been approved by the UNC Faculty Assembly, a systemwide association. However, the UNC-CH Faculty Council will vote Friday on whether or not to approve these competencies.
This one-size-fits-all approach to quelling notions that college students aren’t learning anything lacks merit. The UNC system is comprised of institutions whose focuses span a wide spectrum with varying levels of academic rigor.
Systemwide standardized testing will unnecessarily cost the state money, while at the same time running the risk of creating a system that could replace creativity with teaching to a test, one of the widely criticized results of the No Child Left Behind Act.
A number of members of the UNC-CH Faculty Executive Committee have rightly expressed concerns that the process is too serious of an issue to be rushed. Having to submit a recommendation to the Board of Governors by mid-January is too close of a deadline to thoroughly evaluate a systemwide policy that is flawed to begin with.
There is enough standardized testing before college, and the proposed competency assessments are frivolous.
