Fraser Institute Slams Alberta’s Decision to Kill Bogus School Testing
Predictably, the Fraser Institute is not happy that the Albertan government is moving to abolish elementary school provincial achievement tests (PATs), which it uses as fodder for its dubious and worthless “Report Cards” — studies which are almost invariably used to cast doubt on public schools, promote “independent” private schools, and downplay the obvious fact that the most important factors in student success in our schools are the stability and socioeconomic status of their family. Last year, in its infinite wisdom, the Institute proclaimed Bountiful’s school one of the best in the province. It was a rare meeting of the free-market libertarians and the ultra-conservative polygamists, which impressed nobody.
Of course, this decision by the Albertan government will save a great deal of time for students and teachers, and eliminate a serious ethical problem (should students be subjected to what amounts to an extended social research exercise, without compensation and without consent?). But it will also deprive the Fraser Institute of its precious data, and so they’re throwing a temper tantrum.
It’s interesting, I think, that an institute supposedly so dedicated to free market principles gets into such a snit when a government threatens to withhold its supply of “free” data paid for out of the public purse. I’m sure if the Institute offered to compensate the government for collecting their data, something could be arranged.
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crf
want a laugh? http://www.fraserinstitute.org/publicationdisplay.aspx?id=16360
Sixth Estate
Apparently the Fraser Institute feels that detailed assessment tests are less of an affront to freedom than the long-form census.
It makes sense, in a way. Students are, of course, free to put down whatever answers they want on an assessment test which they aren’t being explicitly graded for. That’s why my advice to students, and parents, is to view the tests as a creative exercise. Instead of seeing how many you can get right, see how many you can get wrong. The more doubt can be thrown on the reliability of the process, the less useful the data becomes. Or it would, if the Fraser Institute had ever heard of genuine peer review.
Rashkavar
Good for Alberta. Those tests were such utter bollocks to begin with.
It’s interesting to note in crf’s article that not only does the Fraser Institute appear to be afraid of demographics and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of data quality (having data from 100% of the population is better than having it from, say, 0.1% of the population, as the “market surveys of the kind that are routinely collected on a voluntary basis” generally work with, at most. – funny that they do understand this concept as it relates to PATs), but they also demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of the bureaucratic divisions within the federal government. Censuses may be mandated by the government, but the data analysis is done by Statscan, who do not have detailed access to the other information sources cited in the article.
Sixth Estate
I think you’ve hit upon the most hypocritical claim in that article, and I’ll just replicate it here for the benefit of others:
“The census has simply become a cheap way for academics, economists, and social scientists to get information that should be acquired using market surveys of the kind that are routinely collected on a voluntary basis.”
Yes, indeed. Government collection of information is a cheap way of getting out of “routine… voluntary” surveys for researchers. And the Fraser Institute is… supportive of this? Or opposed to this? I guess it depends which way the wind is blowing.
Commenter
“my advice to students, and parents, is to view the tests as a creative exercise. Instead of seeing how many you can get right, see how many you can get wrong. The more doubt can be thrown on the reliability of the process, the less useful the data becomes.” Being able to prove something can fail doesn’t prove that it can’t succeed.
Simply being negative about every single thing that the Frasier institute does kind of hurts you more than it helps you. Yes they do everything for the wrong reasons, but sometimes it just so happens that the people paying them to make dubious studies and promote bad decisions are on the right side of an issue.
Those tests could be seriously useful if implemented correctly.
Sixth Estate
I’m not negative about everything the Fraser Institute does. Just many things. I think in each case I do explain WHY, as well.