The New York Times: “A recent update to federal education law requires states to include at least one nonacademic measure in judging school performance … But the race to test for so-called social-emotional skills has raised alarms even among the biggest proponents of teaching them, who warn that the definitions are unclear and the tests faulty.”
“Argument still rages about whether schools can or should emphasize these skills. Critics say the approach risks blaming the victim — if only students had more resilience, they could rise above generational poverty and neglected schools — and excuses uninspired teaching by telling students it is on them to develop zest, or enthusiasm.”
“The biggest concern about testing for social-emotional skills is that it typically relies on surveys asking students to evaluate recent behaviors or mind-sets, like how many days they remembered their homework, or if they consider themselves hard workers. This makes the testing highly susceptible to fakery and subjectivity.”
“You think test scores are easy to game?” said Martin West, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “They’re relatively hard to game when you compare them to a self-report survey.”
